28 FEBRUARY 1969, Page 28

No. 542: Paper chase

COMPETITION

Readers of John Wells's 'Afterthought' two weeks ago, 'After you, Cecil,' were doubtless struck by the remarkably picturesque opening sentence of 'Cecil's autobiography . . .

`My father, whose name I forget, was a fat, lazy man in a tweed pork-pie hat with a tobacco-stained moustache.'

Competitors are invited to write similarly arrest- ing. outrageous, interest-quickening vignettes of early boy- (or girl-) hood, suitable as opening sentences for the autobiography of any fam- ous personage, past or present, who, for reasons unknown, has not yet got round to writing one. Entries, marked 'Competition No. 542,' by 10 March.