24 AUGUST 1985, Page 21

Lepanto

Sir: Taki gets more wrong in one sentence than I thought possible. Writing from Zante about Cervantes he observes: 'The Spanish writer lost his leg off the western coast while serving as a seaman on a galleon that was attacked by pirates.'

The facts are: Cervantes served as a soldier aboard a galley at the battle of Lepanto where he sought the honour to be the first man to leap on to Turkish galleys when they grappled. He lost the use of his left arm, for 'the greater glory of my right'.

Otherwise, I am sure Taki gets more right than any of us could think possible in one short article, weekly.

John Hart 11 Mountview, London NW7