GREAT BRITAIN: Lordly Heresy

Britons who rate among life’s necessities the hot, soaking bath complete with whisk, sponge and loofah got a jolt last week. It came from testy, aging (78) Viscount Maugham, elder brother of Novelist W. Somerset Maugham. Said the Viscount, during a House of Lords debate on water shortage: “As pleasant as it is to have a daily bath, it is not really necessary to health. Many lads who came back from Africa had not had a bath in three months and they will tell you they were none the worse. A bath very largely is a luxury, and water closets are really not necessary in many rural places at all.”