4 JANUARY 1946, Page 9

Unless I can get external disturbances like Christmas out of

my bones better than I did last week I shall have to start an Apology Corner as a permanent institution. Why I spoke of Arthur Clement Hilton, the author of The Octopus, as James Hilton only a psychoanalyst could discover—and I have no intention of consulting a psychoanalyst. Then there was the suggestion that Dr. Thomas Eden was elected Master of Trinity Hall in 1626 in the reign of James I. It is pointed out that this seems improbable, in view of the fact that King James died in 1625. I realise the improbability ;