Between friends
Sir: Your weekly column of 'crass, illiterate, ignorant etc.' communications from public bodies is elegantly juxtaposed by the felici- ties of gymnastic syntax emanating, almost as frequently, from my old private buddy, the chatelain of Château d'Oex, Alastair Forbes (Letters, 7 March). We know why that other courageous and polemic scribe, Voltaire, lived within the protective borders of a Swiss canton. Do Ali's Memoires d'un Outré Tomboy necessitate his sanctuary in a ski resort? I found the Vienna production of Hansel and Crete/ offensive because of the enthusiasm with which the audience greeted the cooking of the intentionally Semitic-looking witch in an oven. Ali charges to the defence of the Volksoper by stating that the Brothers Grimm described the witch as a 'Gottlose Hexe', which by definition makes her non-denominational in a purely religious sense. He then contin- ues to say that in his illustrated edition the witch looks like 'a member of the Saudi royal family'. But surely the House of Saud is Semitic, so the argument is casuistic.
I am, however, concerned when Ali `There's a fly in my primordial soup.' accuses me of bad taste in not reminding your readers that the Austrian blondies, whom both he and I elected to oppose dur- ing the second world war, are of the same ilk as my accusers over 40 years later! Sure- ly it is my misfortune that few of your read- ers will ever need to be reminded explicitly of the details of my tragedy, and, if they are, Ali will be available to jog his own and their memory.
Claus von Billow
109 Onslow Square, London SW7
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