Truly awful
Sir: I was amused by Nicholas Soames writing that A. N. Wilson had 'broken every convention of civilised society' (Let- ters, 7 July) by reporting a conversation he had with the Queen Mother.
It reminded me that at Eton the young Soames was remarkable for continually appalling his fellow pupils — who could hardly be accused of primness — by his unattractive behaviour and demeanour.
My father, who taught classics at the school, once received an essay on Roman history in which a boy writing about Caligula or Nero or some such character wrote, 'He was so awful, he was nearly as awful as Soames.'
My father (who did not teach Soames and knew him only by repute) told the boy, 'You just can't write that sort of thing about somebody.'
'But,' the boy protested. 'it's true, Sir, it's true.'
Edward Coleridge
Yingally, Deans Marsh, Victoria, Australia
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