Learning worn lightly
From Mr Bruce McDougall Sir: Poor old Paul Johnson (And another thing, 1 July). He thinks that people are less intelligent than they used to be. To Prove his point, he refers to people such as Stephen Fry, Julie Burchill and Martin Amis, with whom none of my friends would care to spend even 30 seconds, let alone an entire dinner party. Yet my friends, like Paul Johnson's mother, can recite tens of thousands of lines of poetry and song, from the skits and lyrics of Tom Lehrer and Beyond the Fringe to the songs of Randy Newman, Chuck Berry and the Beatles. They can also sing the entire score of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Wizard of Oz, The Sound of Music and West Side Story, and do a passing version of the Tin Man skipping down the Yellow Brick Road. Unfortunately, Paul Johnson is not likely to have an opportunity to meet any of them. Unlike Tessa Jowell, Michael Ignatieff and the Bishop of Oxford, who go out of their way to seek the spotlight, my friends are all wise enough to follow the advice of Epicu- rus and remain unknown.
Bruce McDougall
Brucer@home.com
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