Letter: Good neighbour

From Dr John Orbell

Sir: As Professor Burchell's next- door neighbour, I am aghast at Karel Schuck's slur upon me (Letters, 11 October ).

I was unable to remove the offending British Telecom directory because I, too, was away at the time. Only my cleaning lady's availability to take in the directory saved me from a similar fate.

On noticing the directory on my return, I went immediately to remove it from my neighbour's doorstep only to find that the burglar had already defeated my good intention. So I called the police, made a statement, gave the police constable a cup of tea, arranged the boarding-up, contacted my neighbour and later helped him to drown his sorrows by sharing with him a bottle of extraordinarily good wine (which he provided).

What more should I have done?

Yours faithfully

John Orbell

London, N1

11 October