Stalin's Double SIR,-Thcre seems littlc point in Mr. Chancellor's imaginativc musings Unless there is some substance in the supposition that "Joseph Stalin died outright or was...

Case of the Missing Clich6 SIR,-1 have recently rc-rcad all the Sherlock Holmes literature, only to find that the famous and oft-quoted remark: "Elemcntary, my dear Watson I "...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR British Photograplhers SIR,-Mr. Tom Hopkinson, in his review of the Coronation Exhibilion of the Institute of British Photographers, rightly deplores thi...

Critics Criticised SIR,-In a revicw of my novel, IEler A Plaver, Mr. L. A. U: Strong describes my style as splashy and cxplosive. If hle would do me the honour of looking...

The Church and the Kremlin SIR,-II1 the search for reasons for the change in Russian policy, one fact has been completely overlooked. Ever since the gulf opened between Russia...

Art and the Abstract SIR,-[ am quitc SUIrC Mr. 13avies does not mean us to assumne that ar'tiStS USinlg the so-callcd abstiract idiomI do not care how ignorant people are Over...

Partridge wins on Points You Have a Point There. fly Eric Partridge. (Hlamiish ilHamilton. 12s. 6d.) I WEI-COME this book with peculiar delight. It deals with the artfor it...

Professional Poet Poems of Michael Drayton. Edited by .olin Buxton. (Routledec and I Kegan PaUl. 2 volumes. 30s. the set.) - I e P PROBABLY there is no place today for the...

Murder in Tunisia Official French policy in the protectorate of Tunisia favouirs gradual reforms by' which the native population gradually assumes the functions of...

Threat to Siam The invasion of Laos is still going as badly as possible for the French. The main offensive seems to have shifted from the attack on the capital, Luang Prabang,...

Two New Reigns King Feisal 1I of Iraq and King Husseiln of Jordan are second cousins who were born on the samle day. The siniultaneous ending of their regencies and their...

Crisis in Cairo It has proved impossible to keep the Anglo-Egyptian talks strictly technical. And with that failure, though they have not yet reached a breakdown, both sides...

Shakespeare's Motley. By Leslie liotson. ;t -Llrs s( -IX (Hart-Davis. 21s.j *r IT will come as a shock to those who think of Shakespeare's Fools as clad in the gawdy y patched...

I'he Heir of Douglas. By Lillian de la Torre. (Michael Joseph. 18s.) Thei Heir of Douglas is one of those books that fall into no easily recognisable category. Neither...

Shorter Notices The Great Accomplishmniert. Bv Aver-il Mackenzie-Grieve. (Bles. 21s.) - FoR my part,'' wrote Marc Lescabot, returning from Arcadia, the new French...

'I lie Life and Times of the Duchess of Ports- se mlnouth. By Jeanine Deloech. (EIc-k IR, I To be a royal favourite is one of the surest *1 ways of obtaining immortality....

I Gordon: The Life of a Hero. By Lawrence and Elisabeth Hanson. ( 13 ter Davsies. 15s.) Ti1E Hanson team, with deserved praises foIr their biographies of writers, ha1vc no\v...

American Into lEtnglishj. By C,. V. Carev. I (^teinemIlnl. 6s.) THIS excellent little book would seenm at first glance to be simply a bound brochure; a reference-book tor the...

Introducing Shakespeare Shakespeare: His World and His Work. By M. MI. Reese. (Edward Arnold. 36s.) UNTIL the beginning of the present century it was easier to write a short...

BOOKS OF THE WEEK Mr. Hoover Continues The Memoirs of 1-lerbert Hoover: The Cabinet and the Presidency, 1920-1933. (H-ollis & Carter. 30s.) THE first volume of Mr. Hoover's...

ART The Royal Academy. THiE fitst thing recommended by the guide-books upon arrival anywhere is the " orientation drive." A rapid orientation trot round Burlington House, to...

CONTEMPORARY ARTS I THEATRE Antoniv and CICODatra. Bv William Shakespeare. (Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.) IN studying the great, as he so often and so absorbedly...

As You Like It. By Williaim Shakespeare. (Melimaid Theatre, Royal Exchange.) WI-AT was a small private theatre in St. John's Wood has becomeuntil the end of July--a lairge...

Tartuffe, By Molire. Comedic Fran;aise. (St. Jallmes's.) How insular our theatre has become! It seems strange now to have an Italian and a French company following each other...

Starched Aprons. By Ena Lamont Stewart. (Embassy.) IF their parts in Starched Aprons had been any more than character sketches Miriam Karlin and Altie Bass might have shown...

I The Political Vocabulary Freedom: A New Analysis. By Maurice Cranston. (Longnians. 12s. 6d.) IN this thoughtful book, Mr. Maurice Cranston applies the techniques Of...

A Theatre at a Loss An Introduction to Eighteenth-Century Drama. By Frederick S. Boas. (Clarciidon Press, Oxford. 25s.) TFWENry-six dramatists, beginning with Nicholas RowC...

Key Men Tlhis-talking of vqjluilteers-- Is a season at which Territorial units are apt to receive letters from employers asking either that Private Snooks shouIld be excused...

Thle Three LieuLtenallts To volunteer to go and light in Korea when you are only serving on the reserve seems to mie a very sporting thing to do. and in a sort of way it makes...

A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK M s R. MALENKOV'S (or soinebody's) new broom has in the past few weeks stirred up a lot of dust between the Black Sea and the Tien Shani. Sweeping...

Nice to Knoiiw A kind reader in Kent has sent me aI document calculated to reassure i mnimensely anyone who is having servant-trouble. The Anti-Communist Guardian ("For God,...

Weak on Palrasanlgs I have long held the theory that my compatriots, for rCasolns beyond conjectures are extraordinarily bad judges of distance; so when I passed, at the south...

Europe at Work The strength and the weakness of British foreign policy is its conviction that idealism it totally irrelevant to international politics. The French idea of a...

THE OBJECT OF THE EXERCISE T HE deliberationis (to cmploy a euphemism) at PanmIIUnjoil have made some progress SinlCC the long parley was resumed. The United Nations delegates...

A ChI~aIarcter When I see Jack Bach from the village o11 the hill, I cannot help hUt s111ile. H-le is only haltl tile size of' thie avcrage man, buit stockily built,...

The Bow Group SIR,-The first work of research undertaken by tile Blow Group Concerned Colonial students in this country. The report was widely acclaimed as being an important...

Ilatchlinig Flies Steadily and regula rl y the water at the heald of the pool W.aS larked by the rings of a risinig fish. The circles spread alnd theni Irembled at the banks on...

A Misquotation-Spotter StR,--Of late the Spectator has been all too indulgent to my hobby of spotting misquotations. On April 3rd Mr. Maurice Cranston wrote that poets were "...

Tnic Flowd er Garden Planilt outf chrl ysanthemlumils [llOtW aiStoSP by Pin1Clhin1g 01 tos at the end ol the month. This is also the time lor pultting down dahli a tubers and...

COUNTRY LIFE ITilE slopc of' Ty Ncvydd's field that catches the mornintg suil has a di-v. I -1 ~~~~~~~ . . . -~~~~~~ dutsty look abouit it today, because it is well drained....

Quiet Afternoon For a long time the jackdaw sat on the side of the cilihincy-pot, enjoying the sUIn; then hc flew off and I saw hinm on a neighbour's patch, where hie settled...

The Critic and Society 'The Responisibilities of the Critic. . S Bly F-. 0. IN/ILathiessen. Selected by John Racklifl.c (Oxford Ulliversity Prcss, New York: London, Geoffrey...

Fiction d Strange Laughter. By Pierre Molaine. (Alvin Redman. I Os. 6d.) 42 Among Women WKly. By Cesare Pavese. (Pcter Owen. us. 6d.) el Sister Mavis. By Norahll 1-foult....

Riding on the Engine By CANON ROGER LLOYD W X rHEN I was a boy I would stand, as often as I could manage it, at the far end of No. 13 platform at Euston or No. 2 at Crewe,...

AT WESTMINSTER B RIGADIER MACKESON, speaking il the HoLIse of Commons this week with the solemnity of an economist, referred to the place of i the non-sterling banana " in...

Records or Racing Spectators at Ifley Road, Oxford, last Saturday were able to watch Roger Bannister beat Wooderson's British AllComers Mile Record by nearly three seconds....

Longbridge Concluded Onl Monday the eleveni-week strike of tile vehicle builders at Longbridge ended-with a whimper. As far as the manageIlent were concerned, it had finished...

In Budapest BR By BRIAN GARDNER T HE name-plate proclaimed " Budapest," and the curtains werc of delicate chintz. Otherwise it looked like every other one of the long, flat...

Legendary Colette aladame Colette, A Provincial in Paris. By Margarct Crosland. (Peter Owen. 15s.) TiIE Colette legend has spread widely of recent years, and for anyone even...

The Time and The Place The Story of Everest. By W. H . Murray. (Dent. I 5s.) Tjlw publication of this book is Particularly well-time(l, for the latest expedition to Everest...

CINEMA The House of Wax. (Warner.) Battle Circus. (Empire.) IN this week of glorious spring weatthe, when the Sun filters through newly (tressed trees to dapple the temporary...

The First Hundred Days 13y R01BERT TOWNELEY W'Vas/linlgton. TIHE first hundred days ol' President Eisenhower's adminiiIstration have been remarkable not for what he has done,...

DEFENCE POLICY T HERE is no denying the relaxation of tension throughout the whole field of Western defence which followed the death of Stalin and the first sigis of a...

FINANCE AND INVESTMENT By CUSTOS No clear trend is yet discernible in the stock markets, and the general outlook remains patchy. Gold mines and oil shares rallied when the new...

French West Africans By THOMAS HODGKIN 46V TOUR British policy in West Africa is detestable," I was told by the cldenly French lawyer (with an IndoI Chinese background) in...

Sportiltng' Aspects Matthews Hero By J. P. W. MALLALIEU I T rained all Thursday, not in a downpour which RlInS Off tile bone-dry earth and is lost, but in the steady drizzle...