Trivial information
Sir: As the reporter on the William Hickey column of the Daily Express who spoke (twice) to your Low life columnist, Jeffrey Bernard, about his Spectator lunch, I was surprised at his comments in his 28 September column.
He writes: 'Where on earth do they get their little bits of information? And is it of interest to anybody that one . . . is having a lunch and has not asked Taki to it?' As he well knows, I obtained this 'little bit of information' about Taki from Mr Bernard himself. I had rung him about a tip we had been given that hardly anyone was coming to his lunch because he had upset so many people. Mr Bernard denied this, and, as far as I was concerned, that was the end of the matter. Then, an hour later, Mr Bernard called me back. 'You might be interested in this,' he volunteered, before telling me at great length why he was not inviting Taki.
I was not aware that amnesia was one of the afflictions that renders Mr Bernard so frequently unwell.
Kathryn Spencer
Daily Express, Ludgate House, 245 Blackfriars Road, London SE1
Jeffrey Bernard writes: The particular little bit of information I had in mind was the one about hardly anyone coming to the lunch because I had upset so many people. Most of the people I've upset have for years drunk so much that they've forgotten I ever did. And my saying that William Hickey might be interested in something doesn't mean I think anyone else is.
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