22 JANUARY 1977, Page 19

Bores Sir : Christopher Booker (Spectator, 15 January) notes Theophrastus's

comment that two topics typical of the bore's conversation are that 'the price of bread has fallen,' and that 'there seem to be too many foreigners in town': Geoffrey Wheatcroft (Notebook) muses on bread prices and on how one cannot walk down Shaftesbury Avenue at any time of the year without seeing foreigners.

Theophrastus knew his bores.

David Pannick Hertford College, Oxford