Letters
Tie ring saga
Sir: It may possibly interest Mr Waugh (`Valuable woggle mystery,' 5 March) to know that Ford Madox Ford described Vin- cent Macmaster, a character in Some Do Not. . . (published first in 1924, but set before and during the first world war), as wearing `a tie confined by a gold ring, steel- blue speckled with black' and, later on, a `steel-blue tie, true-looking gold ring'. The explanation appears to be that Macmaster had, if anything, to be an authority and authorities wear gold tie-rings and broadcloth'.
Though I am not aware that it is revealed to which club Macmaster belonged, he could not hope to meet Mr Lucas's stan- dards of honesty (Letters, 5 March), despite his apparent possession of only one tie, unless he considerably redeems himself fur- ther on in the stories; he is, moreover, a senior Civil Servant and, presumably worse, a Whig.
Simon Sinclair
107 Abingdon Road, London W8
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