I WAS recently showing a visitor friend round Worcester Cathedral when it was noticed that I habitually avoided stepping on a certain flagstone situated in the Cloisters.

I could only explain that when I joined the Cathedral Voluntary Choir as a boy more than 70 years ago, it was regarded as bad luck to step on this particular stone.

It is distinctively different from those around it and is inscribed with the solitary word "Miserrimus" meaning "most miserable". I am told that it is the last resting place of a former vicar of Claines whose life was beset with ill luck and misfortune to the extent that he was buried anonymously with just this one word as an epitaph.

But was this an ancient superstition or just a passing whim among choirboys of my generation? In those days it was not easy to observe. Sunday Evening Service was invariably opened with a processional hymn which we commenced singing, very effectively I am told, out in the cloisters then moving into the Nave. To do so we had to negotiate a right turn and several steps, passing on either side of the Miserrimus stone - no easy task when one is singing and keeping an eye on the music.

Having started us off, our choirmaster dashed into the Cathedral through another door to take his place at the organ and accompany us in the later verses.

I had never given much thought to the matter but it seems that old habits die hard.

JOHN HINTON,

Worcester.