Food of hate
Sir: Several years ago Spike Milligan, in a piece called 'Sorry, I can't hear above the Muzak', pointed out that music was meant to be absorbed, not applied. After a lively correspondence in the Times, we tried to form an abolition society — Lord Russell enhanced our case enormously by reveal- ing that his mother could no longer enjoy dining out, since eavesdropping on neigh- bouring restaurant tables was now impossi- ble — but it appeared that, unlike the anti-smoking lobby, we had no legal right to silence.
I have tried many cures (nail-scissors were the most effective), and carried out on-the-spot surveys on fellow diners to test the mangement claim that 'the other cus- tomers want it' (50 per cent reply 'What music?', another 30 per cent wish it termin- ated and a few say sympathetically, 'Yes, we're not musical either, dear').
Kingsley Amis has now added this Dutch elm disease of sound to his list of grie- vances (`Sod the public II', 15 October), pointing out that the British will pay sums in a restaurant they would never dream of paying for a seat at the opera. Yet we are not force-fed at Covent Garden; why should we accept an uninvited concert as we eat?
If Spectator readers could suggest a just impediment to this holy sacrilege, we would all breathe a (silent) prayer of grati- tude.
Christopher Hogwood
2 Claremont, Hills Road, Cambridge
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