Andrew: He will be sadly missed in Swanton Novers, Walpole St. Andrew,

Haddiscoe, Caister, and Great Snoring. (Very likely in Little Snoring,

too.) I had forgotten that you were a native of the Fens and the Broads.

So was George Borrow, born in East Dereham just 200 years ago last Saturday,

and one of the favorite writers of my childhood. I am currently doing a

“piece” on Borrow for The New Criterion, much hampered by the fact that

Borrow doesn’t seem half as good re-reading him now, as he did when I was 10

years old. Did you notice my little tribute to your home county in last

September’s diary? (Here–

search on “Betjeman.”)