7 JULY 1950, page 22

" Thrillers" Str,—mr. A. A. Milne Makes The Common Error

of describing detective novels as " thrillers." Strictly speaking, the work of Miss Agatha Christie and others comes into a very different category. Thrillers, in the strict......

Country Life

I SUPPOSE that the most beautiful wild flower in the English list is the wild rose, now in great splendour, yet there are, I think, few flowers about which less is generally......

A Little Flower-book

six,—Miss Sackville-West can probably date her manuscript book a little more closely, for it was Dr. Thomas Burnet who described the post- Diluvial world as a " rude lump " and......

Poor Richard Sir.—in 1803 The Ms Of Northanger Abbey Was

sold to Mr. Richard Crosby. The business proceeded no further, and in 1809 one of Jane Austen's brothers secured the return of the MS for £10, the amount which Mr. Crosby had......

School Naturalists

Among the several public schools that have made a name as homes of natural history are Gresham's School, Holt, and Bradfield College. The latter has just celebrated—in a very......

Prison For Sex Offences

SIR.—You have from time to time, almost alone amongst responsible editors, permitted attention to be called to the harsh and often brutal treatment given to homosexual people.......

Pity The Petroleum Officer

SIR,—The high indignation of your R.P.O. champion seems to be built on air, on thin air. The Spectator, in its wisdom, disapproved of its readers' vindictiveness by awarding me......

Art By Canal

SIR,—May I applaud Mr. Sacheverell Sitwell's graceful English and choice of theme. We forget that the quickest, safest way to bring pictures from Italy (say) to England was......

More Birds

Most living things in our island have their ups and downs, their numbers varying often greatly from year to year ; but with our birds the ups of late years have been much more......

In The Garden

A great gardener in his new but rich nursery spoke with zeal of the value of grey foliage ; and as he walked round plucked a spray or two of statice and various artemisias and......