Sir: James Young has visited impure sources (Letters, 23/30 December). On both occasions the first edition of Scoop gives 'Feather-footed through the plashy fen passes the questing vole'; and reminds us once more of that impeccable style.
James Macdonald By email © 2006 Spectator Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

From James Young Sir: Rereading Evelyn Waugh's Scoop recently, I noticed that William Boot's immortal intro 'Feather-footed through the splashy fen passes the questing vole' (page 16, 1969 Penguin edition) is repeated a few pages later as '. . . plashy fens. . . '. (The 1992 Oxford Dictionary of Quotations gives 'plashy fen' -- the best of the three, to my mind. ) No doubt ...

A Canadian man wrongly convicted of raping and murdering his 4-year-old niece filed a $12 million lawsuit Thursday against the disgraced pathologist whose testimony played a key role in sending him to prison. The suit filed by William Mullins-Johnson names Dr. Charles Smith as well as former ...

A Canadian man who spent 12 years in jail based on a wrongful conviction has launched a C$13-million (US$12 million) lawsuit against a disgraced pathologist whose testimony played a key role in his conviction. The suit filed by William Mullins-Johnson on Thursday names, among others, pathologist Dr. Charles Smith and Ontario's former chief coroner, James Young and ...