Obituary: John Bratby

YOUR OBITUARY of John Bratby (by Andrew Lambirth, 23 July) did not mention his great skill as a teacher, writes John Wright.

Bratby and I had been at school together and met up again some years later, when I used to go and see him and Jean in Greenwich. His view was that anyone could paint; it was a question of will- power. He said that I had quite a lot of will-power and wanted to paint; so he bet me the enormous sum for those days of pounds 10 that he could teach me to paint in a week. I bet him that I could not. The criterion was whether a painting I started in that week was selected for exhibition at the Royal Academy. He won.

His reaction was the correct one: 'That shows what the Academy is worth, doesn't it?'