Re the survival of ancient dialects (Editorial, 5 April), while I would not necessarily class them as languages, English regional dialects are alive and well despite fears that standard BBC English would wipe them out. Certainly, in my native South Yorkshire (scattered with ancient Scandinavian words) and in my now home of Dorset they flourish.
Trevor Lindley
Weymouth, Dorset
• With reference to Peter Gildener’s letter (5 April), I directed that RSC production of Titus Andronicus starring David Bradley. The sound of the breaking neck was indeed created by squeezing a plastic coffee cup (although we also experimented in rehearsals with simply snapping a stick). However, it was his daughter Lavinia’s neck that Titus was breaking, not Tamora’s. But I’m glad the moment has stuck with him over the years.
Bill Alexander
Tunley, Gloucestershire
• A little more about the surprising source of sound effects. According to the late Guy Woolfenden, in the RSC’s 1960s production of The Wars of the Roses, the ghastly sound of the numerous (offstage) beheadings was created by chopping a cabbage in half.
Karen Lewton
Newcastle upon Tyne
• The stereotype that all pensioners vote Tory is about as accurate as the one that says all pensioners live in £1m homes (Letters, 5 April).
Jenny Haynes
Horkstow, Lincolnshire
• I have not listened to The Archers since Nigel fell off the roof (Letters, 7 April).
Nikki Knewstub
Deal, Kent
• Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
