While I was leaping from crag to crag in Yosemite National Park, Bernard Levin died without my noticing (Aug. 7). He was a brilliant opinion

journalist and a great opera fan — I once found myself sitting behind him

at a performance of Rosenkavalier. In his later years he sank into

Alzheimers, but at his peak, around 1970, he was as good as it gets. R.i.P.