28 MAY 1983, Page 23

Boer war baby

Sir: I was stirred to see in print in your letter columns (14 May) the words of the song, 'The 'Baby's name is Kitchener Carrington' which I was taught to recite uncomprehen- dingly as a small child in Devonshire, c.1913. But in our version the eighth line began not with `Lyddite' (which I discover is a high explosive) but with 'Buller', the name of a local general.

E. E. Phare

16 Amherst Court, Grange Road, Cambridge