As a renowned philistine, I am grateful to the cultured Michael Pyke (Letters, 15 August) for questioning whether I sat through The Rite of Spring or The Rake’s Progress at Glyndebourne, desperately waiting for a recognisable tune to come along. He may well be right that I was watching a ballet and not an opera. The only clue I can offer, as both produce an infernal din, is that at one point I was sufficiently awake to realise that they were simulating copulation on stage. This may not be conclusive because what may be a rite of spring is what you might expect of a rake at any time, but I hope it is helpful.
Bernard Ingham
Purley, Surrey
• Students at Salford University in the 1960s used to entertain visitors by travelling over the top of the paternoster lift (Letters, 18 August) and re-emerging standing on their heads.
David McAvoy
Wigan, Lancashire
• Jam? Jam jar = car (Pass notes, cockney rhyming slang, 18 August)? It’s haddock! Haddock and bloater = motor. What self-respecting cockney would call his preferred transport a “car”?
Andrew Palmer
London
