1 MAY 1959, Page 7

THERE ARE VERY FEW writers in journalism today with what

I would call 'style' if the word had not some depressing meanings which cannot be asso- ciated with Strix. He was my immediate pre- decessor in 'A Spectator's Notebook' and, then as now, I have envied him his ability to write such seemingly effortless prose, light without being lightweight, distinctive without being idio- syncratic.' But I really must not begin to sound valedictory, because, though Strix announces in .our correspondence columns that he will 'haunt our pages less predictably,' I hope he will con- tinue to materialise in them often--a hope which I know will be shared by those who have enjoyed reading him as essayist, commentator and critic in these pages.