22 MARCH 1968, Page 32

No. 493: Paper chase

COMPETITION

The music critic of The Times began a recent article: 'I whiled away a quarter of an hour or so on Monday by committing to memory five or six of the character-themes which form the basic musical material of Humphrey Searle's opera Hamlet.'

Competitors are invited to concoct similar examples of opening sentence one-upmanship (each not exceeding fifty words in length) in the style of an actual or imagined critic of the arts. Entries, marked 'Competition No. 493,' must be in by 1 April.