It is with great pleasure and proud satisfaction that one reads in The Times about the achievements of a young 28-year-old Maltese tenor, Joseph Calleja (March 8).

One learns that he has just taken part, at the Royal Opera House in London, as Macduff in Verdi's Macbeth. This is the fourth time he has performed in London. Later on this year he has been invited to Vienna, Seattle and Los Angeles. All this is of much credit not only personally and solely to Mr Calleja, but also nationally to his native land, Malta.

Permit me to draw the attention of opera-loving readers to another Calleia, whose details can be found on referring to Michael Refalo's English translation of Herbert Ganado's monumental autobiography Rajt Malta Tinbidel.

In 1913 Toscanini invited Calleia to sing Otello. In 1920 Calleia, then a world famous tenor of Maltese descent, sang Sansone e Dalila at the Reale (our former Royal Opera House, now a war ruin). When Calleia sang, the audience felt as though they were celebrating a national occasion.

Conclusion: There is a gene for tenor singing in the DNA of the species Calleja melitensis.