2 AUGUST 1997, Page 23

Sir: I hope Digby Anderson is a better food writer

than social commentator. The lower- class habit of cupping one's hand while holding a lighted cigarette to take drags (not gasps, for goodness' sake) is alive and well in the armed forces amongst us 'other ranks', as is the habit of putting temporarily extinguished cigarettes behind the ear.

As a lower-class person, I would be more than delighted to assist Mr Anderson with any more research into the subject of the lower orders as I should hate to see him embarrassed by poor research. As we all know, thanks to Hilaire Belloc's poem, embarrassment is the preserve of the mid- dle classes.

M.J. Wingert

ACAC UK, RAF High Wycombe, Bucks