Bernard Shaw did not revel in Eliza’s excitement at the races (Editorial, 23 August), as there is no such scene in Pygmalion. The Ascot scene – with Eliza’s line “Come on, Dover! Move your bloomin’ arse!” – was created for the musical adaptation My Fair Lady. In Pygmalion she comes to grief by saying “not bloody likely” at a tea party.
Les Masters
Bleadon, Somerset
• It isn’t just noises, smells and dung on the roads that upset village incomers (Letters, 22 August). A lobby here blocked a plan to install a defibrillator because it wasn’t in keeping with the rural milieu. If only they weren’t so visible.
Andrew Vincent
Westmancote, Worcestershire
• Jeffrey Steele’s striving for perfection (Obituary, 15 August) was demonstrated when he asked my friend Roger James, his next door neighbour in Southsea, to return his paintings to him, as he wanted to destroy them. Roger refused: he valued them too much.
Celia Clark
Southsea, Hampshire
• I was one of thousands of women who visited Greenham Common in the 80s (‘We owe them a huge amount’: march to honour Greenham Common women, 22 August). My one outstanding memory is of a “silence” protest, with the only sound being the embarrassed voices of the police, there to “keep peace”. Incidentally, my husband also attended events there with me.
June Pidgeon
Worthing, West Sussex
• Is Ian Botham’s appointment as trade envoy to Australia (Ian Botham as trade envoy? Never fear, it’s a job even Prince Andrew could do, 24 August) a belated reciprocation of the welcome appointment of Sir Les Patterson as cultural attache?
Simon McIntyre
Sevenoaks, Kent
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