Q. Concerning your Brian Eno problem (17/24 December). After a
Britten/Pears concert at the Wigmore Hall in the 1960s I heard Benjamin Britten respond to the question of what he was working on with the words ‘same notes, different order’. Perhaps Mr Eno could adapt?
A.M.P., London WC2 A. Thank you so much for this enjoyable nugget. I must say that Mr Eno has already communicated the results of his trial of my tip, saying, ‘I just wanted to say how wonderful your solution to my dilemma has proved to be. I’ve already had a couple of occasions to use it and it has worked very well. It does have one little drawback, however — if you ask someone for advice and they give it to you, they then have an inexhaustible excuse for collaring you on all future occasions: “Sanded any more doors lately? How did you get on?” But the truth is I’d far sooner talk about doors — or indeed nematode worms, distant galaxies, mountain bikes, civic lighting, magnets, borscht and suntans — than “my career”, so it’s still a success.’
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