27 SEPTEMBER 2008, Page 28

‘Too modest’ Toby

Sir: Toby Young’s piece on how he came to be admitted to Brasenose is, like most of his writings, a beautifully elegant piece of fiction (Status anxiety, 20 September). He was in fact admitted, not as the result of a mistake, but because the PPE tutors judged that his A-level results were not a true reflection of his abilities. We were clearly right, since he went on to secure a First, something he is too modest to mention. Toby was, in fact, one of the nicest and ablest students whom I have taught — almost as nice and able, indeed, as David Cameron. Vernon Bogdanor

Brasenose College, Oxford