22 NOVEMBER 1997, Page 38

Sir: Why do you give a biography of Frank Sinatra,

one of the great icons of American show business, to someone to review when he is so ignorant of American show busi- ness as not to know what 'second banana' means?

The top banana was the main comedian in a burlesque show; the second banana was, therefore, the second comedian. Indeed, Phil Silvers, the man in question, actually starred in a Broadway show called Top Banana.

B.A. Gillman

2 Burnham Street, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey