Tolstoy fund
Sir: Following the strange award of £1.5m damages against Count Nikolai Tolstoy in the recent libel action brought by Lord Aldington, the Georgina Tolstoy Family Fund has been set up to make provision for his wife, and for his four children, who are still of school age. The trustees of this Fund are Sir Bernard Braine, PC, MP (the Father of the House of Commons), Nigel Nicolson and Ludovic Kennedy.
Even if the damages are greatly reduced on appeal, the case has obviously wiped out the Tolstoy family's resources. With a rare mixture of condescension and obscur- ity, Judge Michael Davies instructed the jury not to award 'Mickey Mouse dam- ages', whatever he thought that meant. He now has the unenviable fate of going down to history as the Mickey Mouse judge, as indeed he is already widely known.
It is not necessary to agree with all the inferences drawn by Nikolai Tolstoy from his exhaustive historical researches in order to feel strong sympathy for his wife and family. Indeed, to her eternal credit, Lady Aldington herself publicly expressed sympathy for Georgina Tolstoy at the conclusion of the case. Patrons of the Fund include not only a predictable range of leading authors such as Hugh Thomas, Colin Thubron and General Sir David Fraser, but also a former attorney-general for Scotland and a former chairman of both Rolls Royce and Lazards.
When I organised the Yalta Victims Memorial, which was erected in Thurloe Place, opposite the Victoria & Albert Museum, Spectator readers were particu- larly generous contributors. Now, howev- er, there is an opportunity to help the living rather than to commemorate the dead. Cheques for the Georgina Tolstoy Family Fund may be sent to the Secretary, Miss Kathy McGrath, 10 Barley Mow passage, London W4, telephone 01-994 6477.
John Jolliffe
Church House, Chesterblade, Shepton Mallet, Somerset
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