3 NOVEMBER 1967, Page 35

Dead language

Sir: Mr Raven (20 October) did not look care- fully enough. The striking and inimitable epitaph which appeared on the wall above him (it also appears on the floor) in Westminster Abbey was:

0 RARE BEN JOHNSON

Perhaps the spelling mistake makes the epitaph still more striking.

Robert Hartman Pedor's Close, Smithwood Common, Cranleigh, Surrey