3 SEPTEMBER 1994, Page 31

Diesel recipes

Sir: Professor Steve Jones's rendition of a recipe for chicken flambeed in diesel (Diary, 27 August), ostensibly donated by an inmate of Her Majesty's Prison, Parkhurst, suggests that our noted academ- ic might just have suffered the jovial tug- ging of a certain part of his anatomy. However, if Professor Jones widened his circle of acquaintances to include former army drivers, he would have learned that the Ministry of Defence's decision in the late 1960s to use diesel- rather than petrol- fuelled vehicles was met with universal gloom by soldiers. The reason? Diesel, unlike petrol, cannot be ignited for field cooking purposes!

N.J.F.B. Samengo-Turner

Coltsfoot Cottage, Wickhambrook, Newmarket, Suffolk