Mind your language
I HAVE never wanted a job as a proof- reader for the telephone directory, and
I have always been full of admiration for the people who do it. But the super- duper new directories for London seem riddled with errors.
My attention was first caught by the headir g `Cathlic' at the top of one page of the business directory. Once upon a time Catholic churches were listed all together under 'Catholic churches'; now they are promiscuously scattered about under C for Catholic, S for Saint or whatever letters their patrons begin with. In the new snobs' directory (the one which includes Kensington and Islington but not Battersea, thank you) the num- ber of Mr Andrew Roberts, the author of a new book about Churchill, is given in two places, one of which gives his name as ROBERTS A, Fax [sic].
Mr Ferdinand Mount, the editor of the Times Literary Supplement, does not happen to be listed in the directory, but Lord Mount Charles is included as if his Christian name were Charles and his surname Mount. Judith Powell comes before J. Enoch, but R.K. Powell comes before Sir Richard Powell. Rymond [sic] Lloyd comes before Robert Lloyd. It's all very odd. Some of the Fitzalan- Howards are hyphenated and some are not (though that may be their fault). Our own Miss Jennifer Paterson, pos- sibly the best independent cook working in London today, is listed as living in Emery HI St, as if Emery Hill were an eminence rather than a person. Some people are given as living at 40A and others at 40a. And in this residential directory there is an entry for the Zoroastrian Association of Europe, which may please the Prince of Wales, but hardly seems very residential. In the business directory some com- panies are listed under the surname and others under the first letter of their founder's Christian name, e.g. John Murray under J. Much of this does not matter much, but it makes it harder to find a tele- phone number.
Dot Wordsworth
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