27 JANUARY 1956, Page 8

MRS. BARBARA CARTLAND has produced a biography of her mother

under the title of Polly: My Wonderful Mother. A friend of mine received the other day an illustrated postcard adver- tising the book, urging him to read it, and signed personally by Mrs. Cartland. Here are two extracts : 'Many thousands of women have, like my mother, lost their husbands and sons through war, and many women too have, like her, experienced domestic and financial trouble, deep sorrow and moments of great ecstatic happiness.' . . . 'It will, I know, be a help and an inspiration to everyone who reads it. . . I don't know about that, but what I am pretty sure about is that this is one answer to the intriguing question : how vulgar can you get? Another was supplied the other evening by Lieut.-Colonel Lord Douro, the Duke of Wellington's heir, if he was reported correctly by the Evening Standard. He gave a party at Apsley House and, wearing a frilly white shirt with his dinner jacket, explained it thus : 'It is a party for friends of mine—the Queen among them.' I hope Her Majesty was flattered to have been invited.