27 SEPTEMBER 1986, Page 22

Betjeman at school

Sir: In Roy Foster's review of Trevor West's biography of Horace Plunkett (23 August) it is stated that John Betjeman was one of his aides at 'the bizarre house he built at Kilteragh' at the turn of the century and that Plunkett's political activi- ties in Ireland ended when the house was burnt down in 1923 by the IRA. John Betjeman was then 17 years old and still at school (with me). So far as I know his interest in Ireland began 20 years later when he had a diplomatic post there during the last war.

Sam Soames

55/2 Onslow Gardens, London SW7