14 JUNE 1997, page 28

Donkey Business

Sir: I do wish we could nail for ever the `donkeys and lions' myth about the first world war (Letters, 7 June). The exchange was first recorded in the front pages of Alan......

Unconscionable

Sir: Several persons of my acquaintance, as it happens on both sides of the Atlantic and old enough to remember my long descrip- tion at the time, in the TLS, of Cyril Con-......

My Hero Hitchcock

Sir: The Spectator recently seems to be indulging in a spot of Alfred Hitchcock- bashing (Arts, 10 May; Diary, 31 May), so I feel obliged to speak up in favour of the old master......

Sir: The Strange Point About The Irish Famine Literature...

mentioned by Profes- sor Bew) is that there was a much worse famine in 1739-41, which almost no one, then or now, ever mentions. The Irish people multiplied (because of the ease......

Letters Further Penance

Sir: In return for one apology about a myth of 150 years ago, how about another con- cerning historical reality only 50 years ago? Having enjoyed the Prime Minister's con-......