17 FEBRUARY 1996, page 23

Phoenix From The Ashes

Sir: Having been in Venice at the time of the Fenice fire, I read Rupert Chris- tiansen's piece with some interest (Arts, 10 February). I am not sure, though, of his conspiracy......

Sir: I Was Intrigued To Read That Until The Mid

Fifties French women washed only their feet in their bidets. I first encountered the bidet many years ago in Germany. Curious but naïve, I asked my hostess if that was what she......

Sex And Logic

Sir: The French are well known, especially by themselves, for logic and clear thought. This makes it the more surprising that such eminent representatives of that nation as......

Sir: Your 'french Reader', Frederic Di Guisto, Is Not Well

informed — bidet is defined in the 1762 edition of the Diction- naire de ?Academie as (I translate word for word) 'a low oblong basin designed for inti- mate ablutions'. This......

Middle-class Punch

Sir: It is very sad that Auberon Waugh should again leave his column in The Spec- tator (Another voice, 10 February), what- ever the reason. However, in writing about the......

A Sign Of Life

Sir: Actually I do have an excuse. Alan Cochrane (`England's Scotch myth', 10 February) ticks me off for perpetuating the tired old myth that the Scots have a superi- or......

Only Agreeing

Sir: The hours we spent hanging around back stage at This is Your Life seem to have had dire effects on my colleague, David Starkey (Diary, 10 February). By the end of the......