24 MAY 1997, Page 25

A matter of fat

Sir: Your radio correspondent, Michael Vestey, falls into an old, familiar trap in attributing to Cyril Connolly the aphorism, 'Inside every fat man, there's a thin man who is longing to get out' (Arts, 10 May). Connolly borrowed it from his prep and public schoolmate, George Orwell, in whose novel, Coming Up for Air, the protag- onist wonders whether it's been thought that 'there's a thin man inside every fat man, just as there's a statue in every block of stone'.

Brian Glanville

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