JSA members who opened the Metro section of The Age on January 5 couldscacely believe their eyes - a whole page devoted to an article on Dr Johnson,accompanied by a very informed and sensitive discussion of Boswell's Lifeof Johnson, by Peter Craven. The article was an edited extract from TheLife, dealing with the memorable first meeting of Boswell and Johnson inTom Davies' parlor. In his essay on The Life, Peter Craven wrote: "Itmust be the most frivolous serious book written and it has the deep abidingcharm of showing a wise and dignified man in the company of his brilliantfriends...in a state of unbuttoned indiscretion." Craven says of Boswell:"For a long time, people assumed that Boswell as Johnson's fall guy.The penny has dropped that he was a writer of extraordinary verve and imagination.Boswell is, in fact, the Shakespeare of the personality interview."The Johnson feature was one of a series run in Metro on great figures inEnglish literature.