30 OCTOBER 1976, page 23

Smiling Through

Benny Green A , Ragged Schooling Robert Roberts ( Manchester University Press £3.75) Be it ever so humble, there's no place like C hildhood, where the grown-ups stride the earth......

Minor Key

Olivia Manning Try Anything Once Raymond Mortimer (Hamish Hamilton £6.95) I doubt whether Raymond Mortimer's friends did him much service when they persuaded him to reprint......