Total recall
Sir: The review of Bryan Magee’s autobiography Growing Up in a War (Books, 10 March) recounts that while Magee is in the Christ’s Hospital infirmary he is tended by a thirtyish night nurse to whom he loses his virginity. Later in his review Francis King ponders whether Magee has either an extraordinary memory or extraordinary powers of invention. It prompts the following recollection, which supports the first alternative.
I was a contemporary of Magee’s and I, too, was in the infirmary. Magee was opposite me and I was very impressed with the amount of time he spent in close conversation with the night nurse. She would sit by the head of his bed and their voices were low. I carried the memory of all this but thought little of it until now. His biography explains all.
Ben Ashton Cookham, Berkshire
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