6 JANUARY 1973, Page 21

Manhunt

Sir: Not since the Daily Express told the world ten years ago what Mr Profumo's butler had for breakfast have I been gripped with such deliciously melancholic ecstasy as when television showed grown men asking hotel receptionists the whereabouts of Mr Howard Hughes.

Their resource, their invention, their energy — enough to illuminate a small town — yet, ah, to what enticingly autolycusian items they lovingly adhere. And it is moments like these, I remind myself, that have made the British press greatly circulated. For without the British public, where is the British press?

Martin Evans 33 Kildare Terrace, London W2