15 AUGUST 1981, Page 17

Old joke

Sir: Peter Paterson (`Taxing ingenuity', 1 August) spoilt that 'crude working-class joke' about the Prince Consort's being 'the dearest butcher'. As told in my far from working-class school it went, 'Because every time his meat rises it goes up a sovereign.' It's the way you tell them. Fritz Spiegl 4 Windermere Terrace, Liverpool 8