17 SEPTEMBER 2005, Page 19

Truth, not spite

From Graham Lord Sir: In his Diary (10 September) Trevor Grove describes my new biography of his chum Sir John Mortimer as ‘somewhat spiteful’, by which obviously he means embarrassingly truthful. Does this mean that Mr Grove’s wife, who is writing Sir John’s authorised biography, will be omitting all the fascinating, often hilarious, less than flattering revelations I have been able to make about Sir John, thanks to the many witnesses I interviewed who are not among his large coterie of fans and groupies? And if she does try to tell the whole truth, will Mr Grove accuse her, too, of being ‘somewhat spiteful’?

Graham Lord

Valbonne, France

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