Nick Elliott and a life worth drinking to

The English language has immense resources, but the odd weakness. What, for instance, is the translation for ‘Auld lang syne’? We were discussing that profound topic while telling stories about absent friends, recalling the occasional bottle and thinking about Britain.

A fascinating fellow called Tim Spicer, who commanded a battalion of the Scots Guards, has written a book about an even more remarkable chap called Biffy Dunderdale. Biffy was the sort of man who helped to win our nation’s wars, including the (first) Cold War.

In these pages a couple of weeks ago, Charles Moore brought a colleague of Biffy’s to memory. Charles had been to Eton to salute the enthronement – or whatever – of the latest Provost, Nicholas Coleridge, who must be one of the jollier chaps ever to reach that solemn ascendancy. Charles referred to an earlier Provost, one Claude Aurelius Elliott, who had previously been the headmaster.