24 MARCH 1973, Page 27

Whose slip?

Sir, — Since Mr Benny Green's article, Caught in the Slips (March 10), is all about checking one's facts, is it unkind to ask him precisely where did Ouida write, "All rowed fast, but none rowed as fast as stroke "?

If it is any help, Desmond F. T. Coke did write something very like what Mr Green calls "those

memorable words" in his Sandford of Merton in 1903.

Daniel Counihan

Savage Club, 86 St. James's Street, London WI