This article was published in the Evening Standard as part of the ‘Londoner’s Diary’ column on 12 February 1990.
NOVELIST Tom Sharpe has been explaining why he may be reduced to writing for a school magazine. Sharpe, a Lancing man, describes his bemusement at recently receiving an orthographically unconventional circular from a schoolboy at Ampleforth College, addressing him as “Dear Sir or Madam”.
It begins: “I am the editor of the St Dunstan’s House magazine (circulation 800, mainly comical.) I would be grateful if you could help me achieve this aim by writing an artical (sic). The artical can be on any topic you would like.”
Sharpe tells me he has written back, gently reproving the lad for his spelling and for calling him “Sir or Madam” (“I thought I’d be a bit pompous”), but agreeing to write an article and asking what it should be about.
I wonder if the “any topic” originally specified could include any of the treasured moments from Sharpe’s novels, such as filling thousands of condoms with gas? Ampleforth’s prospectus describes its principal aim as providing “a balanced education for Catholics”.