19 DECEMBER 1987, Page 58

Memory bonk

Sir: A propos Peregrine Worsthorne's musings on the provenance of the word `bonk', I recall that this was common slang for sexual intercourse when I was at school in Wimbledon in the late 1950s. It was even rumoured that you could get a produce called 'honking powder' with reputedly remarkable effects on male virility, but I don't recall that anyone succeeded in getting any.

Edward Kendall

88 Countess Road, Amesbury, Salisbury, Wiltshire