IT was a generous tribute by the Ven. George Frost to the Rt Revd David Bentley (Gazette, 3 April). As so often at funerals, we learn so much about our friends which we wish we had known before. David and I started at Westcott House the same term. Our paths diverged and rarely crossed, though we over­lapped on the General Synod. West­cott’s snide reputation was that it “trained Eng­lish gentlemen for Holy Orders”. John Habgood was never Principal of Westcott, but Vice-Principal. Ken Carey was the Prin­cipal; he inter­viewed me when I sought a place. John became Prin­cipal of Queen’s College, Birming­ham, and supplied me with curates. I look for­ward to reading Just John [the au­thor­ised biography of John Habgood by the Rt Revd David Wilbourne].

The Rt Revd David Wilbourne adds: The obituary for the Rt Revd David Bentley was deeply moving and beautifully put. John Habgood, however, was not Principal of West­cott House in the 1950s, but Vice-Principal, serving from 1956 to 1962, when Ken Carey was Principal. Even so, Habgood effectively ran the show, as Carey’s accolade testifies: “If any man was sent from God whose name was John, it was you.”