The Daily Telegraph from London, Greater London, England • 21

FHE DAILY TELEGRAPH MONDAY NOVEMBER 15 1993 21 NEWS WAY OF THE WORLD OBITUARIES Haldeman COURT AND SOCIAL (Court lilll (Circular 4 AUBERON WAUGH Down with teecher report of the National Commission on Education fills me with gloom Everybody has his own explanation for the sad fact that we are the worst educated nation in the history of Europe and most seem to think it is a question of spending more money One dimension is always missing from the debate This has nothing to do with class once the great unmentionable now discussed to the point of nausea: is the purpose of education to impose an equal society at the lowest common level of ignorance or is it to encourage high-flyers from the humblest and most unlikely backgrounds? Is it to prepare children technologically for whatever robotic employment they might eventually attain or is it to encourage participation in the liberal and humane arts? Are the areas in which people live responsible for their poor performance at school or is it the people who live in these areas? Are irresponsible parents to blame or wet brainwashed idle teachers? Is it more important to spend extra money on leaking roofs (thought to be a major distraction on the educational scene) or leaking teachers? How can extra money stop a teacher leaking? All these agonised questions leave out the most important factor This is that most young Anglo-Saxon males have always had a peculiar hostility to education in any form Perhaps the theories now taught in our teachertraining colleges were invented in order to accommodate this factor but they work Even when education is reduced to creating worms out of Plasticine teachers must spend most of their time on crowd control appeasing the chief delinquents The answer to Anglo-Saxon educational problems is not more money but more brutality This has unpleasant effects and in any case our teachers are no longer up to it Traditionally Anglo-Saxon adults were capable of being pretty brutal to children too but the authoritarians seem to have moved into other fields of employment The key factor is that most people in Britain detest education and everything to do with it morning on the occasion of Remembrance Day The Prince of Wales afterwards took the Salute at the March Past of Ex-Servicemen on Horseguards Parade London SW1 His Royal Highness Colonel this afternoon attended the Welsh Guards Remembrance Sunday Service at the Guards Chapel Wellington Barracks London SW1 Captain John Warburton-Lee Welsh Guards was in attendance BUCKINGHAM PALACE November 14th The Prince Edward President this evening attended the National Youth Theatre of Great Fund-raising Ball at the Grosvenor House Hotel Park Lane London W1 Mrs Richard Warburton was in attendance BUCKINGHAM PALACE November 14th The Princess Royal President Federation Equestre Internationale this evening departed Heathrow Airport London to attend a Bureau Meeting in Hong Kong Mrs Timothy Holderness-Rod-dam was in attendance KENSINGTON PALACE November 14th The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were present this morning during the ceremony at the Cenotaph on the occasion of Remembrance Day YORK HOUSE November 14th The Duke of Kent laid a wreath at the Cenotaph this morning on the occasion of Remembrance Day The Duchess of Kent was present during the Ceremony THATCHED HOUSE LODGE November 14th Princess Alexandra and the Hon Sir Angus Ogilvy were present this morning during the Ceremony at the Cenotaph on the occasion of Remembrance Day HALDEMAN who has died at Santa Barbara California aged 67 was the hard man in Richard White House which meant that he was very hard indeed President has to have his Eisenhower had told Nixon Haldeman played the part to perfection If the grubbiest work was allotted to Colson and the more subtle insinuations were left to John Ehr-lichman Haldeman had no rival in administering the face-to-face humiliation Where Nixon disliked confrontation Haldeman proclaimed his talent for people Theirs as Ehrlichman remarked was a In his book The Ends of Power (1978) Haldeman suggested that his iron man image was cultivated that in earlier manifestations he had been a particularly easygoing executive If so the transformation was perfectly realised sits 100 gold-carpeted feet down the hall from the Oval noted Newsweek out at the world from under a crewcut that would flatter a drill instructor with eyes that would freeze He impressed on his staff that he was a man rode them Haldeman boasted heavy demands on them for flawless work with no mistakes or excuses I drummed into them the concept that anything can be done if you just figure how to do it and give up I take No for an Together with Ehrlichman he formed Berlin which controlled access to Nixon This was not just a matter of shielding the President from the superfluous meetings and encounters it also involved protecting the President against himself visceral reaction to adversity was to issue a vindictive order: press is barred from Air Force he would bark or a 24-hour surveillance on that Haldeman unlike Colson knew when to ignore such imperatiyes He denied keeping Nixon isolated his purpose he claimed was to ensure that the President did see the people whom he needed to meet Nor was he a sycophant He was both conscientious and adept in conveying to the President accurate summaries of views Yet After leaving UCLA he joined the advertising agency Walter Thompson in New York Before long he was transferred to San Francisco and then to Los Angeles where he was promoted to vice-president At Walter Thompson Haldeman hired several young men who would later serve administration including Ronald Ziegler and Lawrence Higby Meanwhile he had been by the Hiss case in which Nixon made his name He was also attracted to the young espousal of laissez-faire economics while the notorious speech filled him with admiration for the fighting spirit As far as Nixon was concerned it helped that Haldeman was not one of Harvard Haldeman worked on vice-presidential campaign in 1956 and was chief advance man in his drive for the presidency four years later In 1962 he counselled Nixon against running for the governorship of California although he loyally supported the doomed campaign He stayed in contact with Nixon during the ensuing wilderness years and in 1968 the former was appointed chief of staff for second presidential campaign His technique of presenting a studiously relaxed Nixon and of carefully limiting public appearances succeeded in securing a narrow victory After resignation in 1972 he tried to persuade Nixon to grant pardons to the Watergate offenders to no avail In 1975 he was found guilty of perjury conspiracy and obstruction of justice and was imprisoned from June 1977 to December 1978 Although he remained loyal to Nixon and unrepentant about having served him Haldeman was piqued into publishing his book after seeing 1977 interviews with David Frost The former President seemed to suggest that his main fault had been his kindness in not sacking Haldeman and Ehrlichman earlier After leaving prison Haldeman became a business consultant dabbled in property and held the franchises on eight Sizzler Family Steak Houses in Florida Hp married in 1949 Jo Horton they had two sons and two daughters in the cover-up from Day That was akin to admitting his own involvement neither he Nixon nor we considered it a cover-up at the Haldeman conceded in his book that he had been party to the plan to instruct the CIA to prevent the investigation of the case and that he had used a presidential fund to stop the burglars from talking He insisted that up until the spring of 1973 only a tiny percentage of his time had been spent on the Watergate affair Nevertheless when John Dean began to blab the game was up On April 29 1973 six months before the tapes were published a tearful and religiose Nixon demanded and resignations Sentiment had been less in evidence a few days previously: there any way you can use the President had wondered On television 9 Nixon referred to Haldeman and Ehrlichman as of the finest public servants it has been my privilege to In private he was hardly less distraught: anybody around here to do this son-of-a-bitching he bemoaned Harry Robbins Haldeman was born on Oct 28 1926 into what Nixon described as of the finest families in Los His grandfather had helped to found the Hollywood Bowl and had been a member of the Better America Federation an early anticommunist organisation His mother had been named of the by the Los Angeles Times in the 1950s Having performed unre-markably in the state system of education the young Haldeman was sent to a private military school for aHere he imbibed zest for regimen and rigid command that found further outlet when he was enrolled in the American wartime V-12 officer training programme at Redlands part of the University of California at Los Angeles Haldeman led the campus Christian Science Organisation and was president of Scabbard and Blade the military fraternity But he later denied that he had any political or ideological commitment when he moved on to the university proper: was a rah-rah college Haldeman at bay in Watergate inquiry 1973 dedication to cause was too absolute to permit objective judgment In 1972 as he recalled he Nixon could accomplish almost anything In the past six months he had not only begun the disarmament talks with the Soviet Union he had dramatically reopened diplomatic relations with China and finally he was about to end the crippling suicidal Vietnam To combat the foes of such a paragon any means appeared justified Thus Haldeman employed the muckraking Donald Segretti to smear the Democrats and he himself helped to draw up lists of In return Nixon came to depend totally upon his chief of staff though Pat Nixon jealous of the influence forbade any purely social contacts Haldeman also made an enemy of Rosemary Woods loyal secretary whom he banished to a basement office at the White House But Miss Woods knew that Haldeman as always was carrying out orders from above she told the President-elect It was not to be expected then that the news of the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate building in Washington on June 17 1972 would provoke a moral crisis in Haldeman any more than in his master Haldeman had no part in the planning of the break-in which he believed had been ordered by Colson But in his book he was quite clear that President was involved In hoc signo MOST of us I hope will feel sympathy with both parties in the storm which has broken over Greenwich refusal to register a child-minder after a council inspector found a golliwog in her collection of toys The inspector Mr Lonnie Lane a Rastafarian was apparently offended by the toy The child-minder Mrs Deena Newton who had been looking after children of all races for 25 years was aggrieved to be accused of racism She can reasonably point out that golliwogs are lovely friendly creatures certainly not objects of hatred They could not have been intended to mock Rastafarians since the Rastafarian religion emerged only in the 1930s whereas golliwogs first appeared in a picture book by Florence Upton in 1895 In fact I have often wondered whether the Rastafarian dreadlocks may not have been modelled on Florence golliwog as establishing humour and amiability as well as pride in racial difference On the other hand it would be possible if one were sensitive to imagine there might be an element of mild derision there It is all very well to say that anyone who comes to live in England must be prepared for a certain amount of good-natured ribbing something the Scots have never understood but where there are also racial animosities I suppose it might be uncomfortable On the other hand again it is rather tough on the Eng Kevin FitzGerald BUCKINGHAM PALACE November 13th i The Queen and The Duke of Edin-1 burgh accompanied by The Prin-I cess Royal and Commander Timo- thy Laurence RN were present this evening at the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall Mrs Robert de Pass Maj-Gen Brian Pennicott and Lt-Col Blair Stewart-Wilson were in attendance 1 CIRENCE HOUSE 0 November 13th Queen Elizabeth Thb Queen jjfMother was present thi? evening at the Royal British Legipn Festi- val of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall The Hon Mrs Rhodes and Major Sir Ralph Anstruther Bt were in attendance KENSINGTON PALACE November 13th The Princess of Wales was present this evening at the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall KENSINGTON PALACE November 13th The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were present this evening at the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall YORK HOUSE November 13th The Duke and Duchess of Kent were present this evening at the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall THATCHED HOUSE LODGE November 13th Princess Alexandra and the Hon Sir Angus Ogilvy were present this evening at the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall BUCKINGHAM PALACE November 14th The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh laid Wreaths at the Cenotaph this morning on the occasion of Remembrance Day The Princess Royal and Commander Timothy Laurence RN were present Mrs Robert de Pass Lt Col Blair Stewart-Wilson and Wing Cdr Christopher Moran RAF were in attendance CLARENCE HOUSE November 14th Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was present this morning during the Ceremony at the Cenotaph on the occasion of Remembrance Day The Hon Mrs Rhodes was in attendance A wreath was laid on behalf of Her Majesty by Major Sir Ralph Anstruther Bt ST PALACE November 14th Today is the Anniversary of the Birthday of The Prince of Wales His Royal Highness laid a Wreath at the Cenotaph this FORTHCOMING Major DW Thornton and Major EA Newnham The engagement is announced between Major David Willson Thornton the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers eldest son of the late Mr Ralph Thornton and of Mrs Mary Craig of Lasswade Edinburgh and Major Elaine Allison Newnham Royal Signals daughter of the late Mr Harry Newnham and of Mrs Rita Newnham of Ramsgate Dr JMJ Chambers and Miss RJ Lewis The engagement is announced between Jeremy younger son of Dr and Mrs WE Chambers of Hillsborough County Down Northern Ireland and Rebecca younger daughter of Mrs AM Geddes and stepdaughter of Professor AM Geddes of Solihull West Midlands Mr MIM Brady and Dr AF Wade The engagement is announced between Malcolm younger son of Mrs Nancy Brady and the late Mr Conall Brady of Edinburgh Scotland and Angela younger daughter of Mr and Mrs Peter Wade of Guiseley West Yorkshire Mr Lantos and Miss Raymond The engagement is announced between Simon son of Dr and Mrs Lantos of Shrewsbury and Sharon daughter of Mr and MrsC Raymond of Tenerife (Mr DG Hargreaves and Miss CJ Pleming engagement is announced between David son of Dr and Mrs GF Hargreaves of Wentworth Surrey and Camilla daughter of Mr and Mrs PG Pleming of Lewes East Sussex SERVICE DINNERS United Services Mess The Lord Lieutenant for South Glamorgan Capt Norman Lloyd-Edwards RNR Mess President and the Lord Mayor of Cardiff Councillor Riley were present at the 78th annual dinner of the United Services Mess held on Saturday at the Angel Hotel Cardiff The principal guest was Vice-Adml Sir Geoffrey Biggs Deputy Commander Fleet The Mess Chairman Mr A Lewis presided 4th Bn Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (TA) The annual dinner of the 4th Bn KOYLI Club was held on Saturday in the Mess 8th (Yorkshire) Bn the Light Infantry (V) in Pontefract Brig St Preston presided Royal Tank Regiment Lt-Gen Sir Jeremy Blacker Representative Colonel Commandant presided at the annual dinner of the Royal Tank Regiment held on Friday Nov 12 in the Royal Armoured Corps Mess Bovington to mark the 76th anniversary of the Battle of Cambrai Those present included: The Bishop of Sherborne Brig CAG Wells Commander RAC Centre the Ven Peter Mallett Brig MJ Debu Indian Army and Mr Peter Baker SOCIETY OF MERCHANT VENTURERS The Society of Merchant Venturers of the City of Bristol has elected the following officers for the ensuing year: Master Mr Lucas Senior Warden Mr Tidmarsh Junior Warden Mr Avery and First Assistant Mr Harvey Four sad stories lish to have to give up their traditional dolls in case a local government inspector on routine inspection of toy cupboards finds a golliwog and uses it to make trouble I think I have a solution Rastafarianism is a serious and respectable religion Its elders do not need to inveigh against foxhunting or attack nice Mr Major in order to attract a loyal and devout membership I think they should take a leaf from the early Christians who adopted the pagan Toman feast of Saturnalia for their own Christmas and adopt the golliwog as a symbol of their religion as Palestinian Judaeism adopted the Star of David Islam the Crescent Christendom the Cross Marxism the hammer and sickle This would demonstrate not only pride in their racial identity and defiance of those who would belittle it but also the sweet-na-tured patience of their long exile and the fact hich we all know that Jamaicans have a sense of humour neighbouring farmer in Somerset Mr Mark Pur-dey had been double-crossed by the police Their latest trick in the unofficial campaign to prevent farmers having guns for use against swarming rabbits and other vermin is to refuse to send a reminder when the gun licence is due to expire Then they wait until he tries to renew it confiscate the gun and prosecute the farmer for having a gun without a licence I was aware of this secret agenda arising from Douglas hysterical gun control legislation in other police authority areas but I am very sorry to see it creeping into Somerset and Avon If this sort of behaviour continues the police will be left without a friend in the country draw Smagin Hansen draw Epishin Kupreichik 0-1 Kaidanov Atalik 1-0 Tukmakov Christiansen draw Akopian Korchnoi 1-0 Stohl Dorfman 1-0 Seirawan Van aer Wiel 0-1 Moroze-vich Van Wely 1-0 Geller Van Mil 0-1 Rogers Gurevich 1-0 Marin Rozen-talis 1-0 Johansen Zapata 1-0 Dolmatov Vaiser 0-1 Adianto Petursson draw Pinter Speelman 1-0 Welling Hodgson draw Sturua Alterman 1-6 Pliester Agdestein 0-1 Cifuentes Kra-senkov 0-1 Bologan Nikolic 1-0 Kovalev Khenkin draw Hertneck Boersma draw Belyavsky Hodgson Sturua The Princess Royal Patron Farms for City Children will attend a reception at the BT Centre Newgate Street EC1 on 23 A memorial service for Sir Anthony Plowman will be held today in Inn Chapel at 5 pm BIRTHDAYS Mr John Hobhouse Chairman RSPCA 1969-73 is 83 Mr Andre Deutsch Founder Andre Deutsch 76 Mr DD Rae Smith Senior Partner Deloitte Haskins and Sells 1973-82 74 Sir Roger Young Principal George College Edinburgh 1958-85 70 Sir Wallace Rowling Prime Minister of New Zealand 1974-75 66 Mr JG Ballard novelist 63 Miss Petula Clark singer 59 Mr Daniel Barenboim pianist and conductor 51 and Mr Peter Phillips son of the Princess Royal and Capt Mark Phillips 16 MARRIAGES Mr JP Glaisher and Miss RC Butler The engagement is announced between John elder son of the late Mr JD Glaisher and of Mrs JM Glaisher of Port Appin Argyllshire and Rachel daughter of Lt-Col and Mrs MR Butler of East Knoyle Wiltshire Mr JJ Fildes and Miss A Whittaker The engagement is announced between Jason elder son of Mr Jonathan Fildes of Crathorne North Yorkshire and Mrs Janet Fildes of Gargrave Yorkshire and Annie younger twin daughter of Mr and Mrs RB Whittaker of Burland Cheshire Mr MJ Hearnden and SV Allen The engagement is announced between Matt youngest son of Mr Roger Hearnden of Portscatho Cornwall and of Mrs Sheila Hearnden of Dorchester-on-Thames Oxfordshire and Sophie younger daughter of the late Mr John Allen and of Mrs Varenna Allen of Britwell Salome Oxfordshire Mr TJ Payne and Miss AL Dean The engagement is announced between Tom elder son of Mr and Mrs Michael Payne Bromley Kent and Annabel younger daughter of Mr and Mrs Dean Ashby de la Zouch Leics Mr AP Chambers and Miss MH Jarron The engagement is announced between Adrian younger son of Mr and Mrs John Chambers of Gullane East Lothian and Melanie youngest daughter of Mr and Mrs Tom Jarron of Longniddry East Lothian RECENT SERVICE APPOINTMENTS ARMY Lieutenant Colonels: Carstairs to AGC(ETS) To ETS UKLF Clarke RE to BLO Pioneer Sch Munich Coates RA to HQ Rhine Gar Harper Signals to 11 Sig Regt Murray RLC to MoD Vasey RA ChD to be Sen Chap HQ BAOR Powell AGC(ETS) to be Comdt 1 Resetl Cen all 81193 ROYAL AIR FORCE Air Commodores: A Baldwin to Shape 291093 Simmonds to HQ RAFSC 51193 Group Captains: Thorpe to Boscombe Down 11193 Bell to New Delhi 11193 Schofield to MoD 81193 Marlow-Spalding to MoD 81193 Wing Commanders: Mason to HQ Cyprus Eng Unit DR Tilson to HQ RAFSC Sigs Staff Wiseman to MoD PE DA ARM all 41093 PT Coleman to HQ AFCENT RAFE MC Frith to RIU Henlow 111093 Ness to RAF Coningsby Green to MoD AFD Bacon to MoD AFD all 111093 Mackreath to HQSTC I Pallister to SPT (POLXRAF) DG Wilson to RAF Arm Supp Unit Codd to RAF North Luffenham all 181093 MJ Maunder to HQ RAFSC Nelson to HQAFSouth Naples Washington-Smith to HQSTC Burdett to MoD AFD A Urquhart to RAF Kinloss Beedie to MoD AFD all 251093 Brumage to MoD AFD Harrison to HQRAFSC Winterton to RAF Cosford A Little to HQ RAFSC all 11193 Rogers to HQ 11 Gp 111093 A Stewart to 201 SQN Kinloss 181093 Dove to Cabinet Office 181093 Stokes to DACU London 181093 Wood to HQRAFSC 18:1093 Bufton to HQSTC 11193 A Bairsto to RAF Leeming 11193 Gardiner to Brize Norton 81193 Scullion to HQ RAFSC 81193 EVENTS The Queen and Prince Philip will attend the Royal Variety Performance at the Dominion Theatre eve Life Guard mounts Horse Guards 11 Guard mounts Buckingham Palace 1130 SATURDAY was rather a tearful day with the sad obituaries of Jill Tweedie Anna moving description of the death of her husband Mark Boxer and in the same newspaper the account of a memorial service in Cla-pham for PC Patrick Dunne shot down in the street by laughing drug dealers Tweedie and Boxer were friends and colleagues but PC Dunne was unknown to me He seems to have represented the very best in the police force of which we were all so proud and proof that some of the best and kindest people in the country are still to be found in it It was a shame that the same newspaper also carried the story of how a included a study of The Chil-terns His thrillers belonged to the school of Raymond Chandler with an occasional whiff of Buchan or Stevenson The pace of the narrative made up for shortcomings in plot and they sold well in Britain America and Germany From time to time he attempted something deeper but was told by his publisher to go away and write another thriller In his broadcasts FitzGerald was entirely natural and as in conversation a master of comic hyperbole (though a slave to parenthesis) The listener was held by the warmth and spontaneity of his enthusiasms A devoted disciple of John Henry Newman Kevin FitzGerald was impatient of many of the Roman formulations and became an Anglican early in the 1960s He married first in 1931 Vida Lamb they had a daughter Prudence who married Marius Goring the actor After the dissolution of his first marriage FitzGerald married secondly in 1946 Janet Quigley head of Hour on the BBC who died in 1987 critic virtually editing the weekly alone during a critical 18-month spell when its ownership became uncertain He also started a new London literary magazine called Topic modelled on the New Yorker It foundered after three months In 1976 Hurren returned to On as editor for a six-year stint He also contributed a regular theatrical column to Drama Quarterly and in 1977 published a lively volume on the state of British drama private and subsidised called Theatre Inside Out The longest serving member of the Critics Circle which he joined in 1948 Hurren was a member of its council and chairman of the drama section He is survived by his second wife Ruth and by a daughter the actress Bonnie Hurren Larry Drew In London aged 73 Yorkshire-born actor dancer and choreographer Created the role of Bobby Van Husen the American playboy in Sandy Wilson's musical The Boy Friend which he played for five years at Theatre in the 1950s Subsequent theatre appearances included Late Joys OK for Sound At the Sign of the Angel The Gingerbread Man and Winnie FitzGerald pere had forgotten that the farm was to be his son's There was a dispute and young FitzGerald with £10 in his pocket went to Canada where he proved that he could avoid starvation Nevertheless his father was temperamentally incapable of letting his son run the farm FitzGerald joined the staff of ICI within a year of its foundation and stayed with the firm for the rest of his life He was agricultural manager for South-East England and later general manager for Ireland then finally head of agricultural publicity for ICI This was the bread-and-butter of his life But he found time for much more: he played rugby for Staffordshire and the London Irish mountaineered mostly in Wales broadcast talked endlessly and always managed to fit in least four hours reading a Although FitzGerald came to climbing too late to distinguish himself mountains became a passionate interest He belonged to the Alpine Club and the Club as well as the Athenaeum the and Kenneth Hurren: humour the company of actors directors playwrights and managers in order to retain his critical distance Rarely able to about his theatrical experiences he also deplored any tendency to denounce a production with too much cruelty Trained as a critic in an era of post-war newspaper rationing he wrote with crisp economy and unfailing humour what they he used to murmer to his colleagues at first nights KEVIN FITZGERALD the writer who has died aged 91 excelled as a conversationalist and a broadcaster and was a prolific author of thrillers Although he never quite achieved his potential as a serious writer book With in the Grave published when he was 84 (Michael Russell 1986) was hailed as a minor masterpiece In it he vividly recalled his memories of his early life and his eccentric father Kevin Columba FitzGerald was born in 1902 the youngest child of Michael FitzGerald a self-made grocer and friend of Cardinal Vaughan Young Kevin was sent to the Oratory School Birmingham where he felt out of place the tone of the school was military and philistine while he was secretly discovering English poetry Only the elaborate musical services of the Oratorians appealed to him He left school soon after the Armistice in 1918 and it was decided that he should be a farmer His father bought him land in Tipperary and Kevin spent four years learning farming only to find that KENNETH HURREN the drama critic who has died aged 73 was the doyen of London newspaper reviewers One of the most reliable and amusingly acerbic guides to the theatre Hurren had been writing about it almost continuously for 55 years Latterly he had been the Mail on chief drama critic until his illness when he became its drama consultant With his shy reserved manner Hurren was the least self-assertive of critics Yet he carried his slightly mandarin appearance with distinction and a dry wit which became something of a byword at first nights Hurren never allowed himself to be swayed by fashion least of all when it became imperative for most of his critical brethren to visit provincial theatres or He considered the expression euphemistic and jargon He could never bring himself to write about such playhouses because he supposed that anything worthwhile would be brought to the capital in due course although he acknowledged their function as a valuable training ground He also liked to avoid theatrical parties and CHESS Creditable start By Malcolm Pein Chess Correspondent FitzGerald: thrillers Sett of Odd Volumes to each of which he made his distinctive contribution His taste in literature was extensive and peculiar he firmly rejected Paradise Lost Jane Austen and Henry James but rejoiced in Dickens Browning Kipling and such oddities as Isaac Curiosities of Literature which he expected his friends to know by heart various books Hurren brief but if possible Although he came to feel constrained by limited space none knew better how to fill it wittily He was also an incisive judge of his critical colleagues notably as in the Spectator and as in On the London entertainments weekly Son of a railway official Kenneth Alwyn Hurren was born at Tynemouth on Aug 14 1920 and won a scholarship to Westminster He began writing about the London theatre for various periodicals as an adolescent and joined On as an editorial pupil under Maurice Speed in 1937 During the Second World War he served in the Navy He spent so long in the United States that when he was demobilised in 1945 and resumed his career as a theatre writer with On he spoke with an American accent In the 1950s he also started contributing articles on television to various periodicals including TV Times In 1970 he joined the Spectator where he remained for six years he served variously and sometimes simultaneously as associate editor arts editor and drama ENGLAND representatives scored 253 in the first leg of their first round matches at the Interpolis knockout event in Tilburg Holland Ninety-six players are competing in two-leg first round matches and the 48 qualifiers will be joined by 16 seeds in the second round Tony Miles and Jon Speel-man both won their first leg matches quite easily while Julian Hodgson was held to a draw by the Georgian GM Zurab Sturua The English trio all played white England has one seeded player the Fide world championship candidate Michael Adams the winner of the 1992 Tilburg event De Boer 0-1 Damljanovic Lobron 0-1 Milos Hellers draw Ribli Romanishin 1-0 Bosboom Yudasin draw Minasian Vladimirov 1-0 Kharlov Razuvaev draw1 Serper Nijboer 0-1 Smirin Miles 1-0 De Kleuver Lutz 1-0 Jongsma De Firmian 1-0 Dao Bronstein draw Va-ganian Leko draw Ruban Georgadze 0-1 Hjartarson Hansen 1-0 Krnic Knoppert 1-0 Kuijf Shabalov 1-0 Smyslov Cvitan draw Sveshnikov Malaniuk The reigning champion Xie Jun of China retained her four-point lead with a short draw in the eighth game of her title match against the Georgian challenger Nana Ioseliani in Monaco Xie leads 6-2 and needs two more wins to retain the title in the best of 16 games match.