28 JULY 1979, Page 17

Reprint Beachcomber

Sir: Alexander Chancellor (Notebook of 14 July) rightly endorses Auberon Waugh's lament that we are allowing the immortal Beachcomber to depart unwept, unhonoured and unsung.

The Mass will provide the weeping and the singing. But, however much we may regret it, it is the printing press these days Which provides the honour, among men. The laurels conferred by even a posthumous Order of Merit would, I dare say, fade more rapidly than a reprint of The Best of Beachcomber. I hereby subscribe for a hundred copies, confident that no ChristMas present at my disposal could bring more joy to the recipients. There is also the Point that a reprint would bring some mundane comfort to his family in a loss which they will feel more acutely but no more continually than his legions of admirers. P. Canham South Petherton, Somerset