History did not begin in 1967 (All-female lineup on a comedy show has only happened once, 24 December). In the 1950s it seemed de rigueur for panel games to feature two men and two women, or a team of men against a team of women. Granted it seemed to be that one of the women had to be Isobel Barnett or Barbara Kelly, but there was nothing unusual about more or less parity. Indeed, the BBC Home Service/Radio 4 had an all-female discussion show called, perhaps unfortunately, The Petticoat Line, until late into the 1960s at least. The idea that comedy is necessarily laddish is quite recent, perhaps from the 1980s or thereabouts.
Patrick Wallace
London
• I counted 53 pictures of individuals engaged in sport (27 December). There were no images of women. I wonder when your next article about lack of girls taking part in sport will be?
Helen Hackett
Durham
• Not only daytime viewers are ignored by Guardian TV listings (Letters, 27 December), but also regional viewers. Here in Scotland we often have different programmes in the early evenings or English programmes at different times or even on different days. I presume this is also the case for Wales and Northern Ireland. It seems illogical to list subscription-only channels such as Fox, Sky Atlantic and Sky 1, but not local Freeview domestic channels.
Lesley Kew
Falkirk
• Wow!, a letter published in the Guardian (24 December) – thank you. Who needs an M&S voucher?
Kate Wheller
Wyke Regis, Dorset
• Why is there only one Competition and Markets Authority (Letters, 26 December)?
Jem Whiteley
Oxford
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters
