In the late 1970s, I had a colleague in the World Service of the BBC by the name of Feyyaz Fergar. We all loved him, especially in the basement bar of Bush House on Aldwych, but alas many of us did not discover until too late that, as well as being an uplifting companion, he was also a wonderful poet. A Turk of Armenian origin, he had hidden his heart condition from his family for years and died in a Greek restaurant in the early hours of one morning in April 1993. For his obituary in The Times, his publisher (David Perman of the Rockingham Press) sent me his collection of poems written originally in English. It was called A Talent for Shrouds and poked fun at societies in the grip of religious doctrine. (Another volume, published posthumously, has an even better title: The Bright Is Dark Enough. Both are now among my most valued possessions and are particularly effective in raising the morale of mourners at funeral services.)

The author of this much - needed book, Owen Bennett Jones, will probably remember Feyyaz, although he is of a younger generation of broadcasters at Bush House. He will also probably agree