John Sutherland (Why so few rotten teeth in period dramas?, G2, 11 March) infers that Charles Dickens had a “very respectable set of teeth” to the day of his death, from the fact that the novelist possessed a handsome toothpick. Respectable they may have been, but not his own. He had a plate, which, as he reported to his dentist just before his 1867 reading tour in America, he found some difficulty in fixing securely in his mouth.
Malcolm Andrews
Editor, The Dickensian
• Over my 50+ years as a Guardian reader I have had a number of letters published on your letters page. Now, to my great joy, I find a whole Pass Notes column dedicated to me and my dwindling number of namesakes (11 March). Thanks, Mum, for sticking to your guns with Gary Cooper when Matron suggested you meant “Harry”. As for namesakes of Cary Grant, they must be in an even more precarious position than we are.
Gary Cornford
Battle, East Sussex
• May I suggest a more modest slogan for a school (Letters, 12 March)? “We are no worse than anyone else”. This would be comforting to parents and inspirational for teachers. It may just be the way forward, going forward.
Professor Philip Burnard
Caerphilly
• Call me a cynic, but I suspect John Lloyd (Sustainable art and architecture, Letters, 11 March) just dislikes modern art.
Marion Worth
Newport, South Wales
• Sarah Boseley’s account of the evidence of the effectiveness of prophylactics against dementia (Recipe for brain power: dance, sudoku and fish, 12 March) reminds me that once we feared early death, now it is extended life that frightens.
John Bailey
St Albans, Hertfordshire
• At 81, I don’t (actually, can’t) do sudoku so I make do trying to figure out the details and meaning of Martin Rowson’s cartoons.
Ron Sonnet
Portsmouth
