14 JANUARY 1984, Page 18

Sir: It is sad that Colin Welch's remarks on Brian

Epstein in his otherwise perceptive piece on popular culture (`Beatlemania', 17 December) should so lack the moral judg- ment evidenced elsewhere. I am certain that Mr Welch will be disturbed to learn that his implicit distaste for 'the Beatles' homo- sexual manager' was shared by no less a luminary than John Lennon himself. Of course Lennon expressed himself more forcefully, suggesting that Epstein title his autobiography 'Queer Jew'. By all accounts Epstein represented a principled voice of restraint to the Beatles — his tragedy was to have been emotionally unstable, Jewish and homosexual at a time when none of these attributes was in vogue.

Robert Ehrlich

King's College, Cambridge