22 FEBRUARY 1997, Page 25

Forbesiana

Sir: Admirers of Kenneth Rose will have bristled at Alastair Forbes's description of him as a gossip columnist (`Rich little poor girl', 15 February). Any gossip columnist with the scrupulous regard for the facts which distinguishes Mr Rose's journalism would be out of a job in no time. Moreover, he is a first-class historian with the Wolfson Prize to his credit.

James Hogg

Noon's Folly Cottage, Melboum, Cambridgeshire