27 AUGUST 1988, Page 22

Bar-stools

Sir: My information about the scrotal skin of whales used to cover bar-stools in a Greek yacht (Books, 6 August) comes from some colour supplement or magazine article about 15 years ago, which illustrated the bar-stools. I think they were a smooth, greyish-cream colour. The article may have been wrong, but I clearly recall the word scrotal, which I have never otherwise heard before or since. It was the idea of having a bar and bar-stools in a private yacht that struck me as curious at the time.

Peter Levi

Austins Farm, Stonesfield, Oxfordshire