I’m surprised that Peter Bradshaw thinks the most bizarre episode in Sonia Orwell’s life was an evening when Malcolm Muggeridge and Kingsley Amis went back to her flat (Notebook, 10 August). More bizarre was surely her decision to sell the film rights to Animal Farm to the CIA (through E Howard Hunt), on condition that she could have a personal meeting with Clark Gable: the result was the 1954 cartoon version by Halas and Batchelor.
Jem Whiteley
Oxford
• Helen Pidd may be correct in her general sentiment, but not in the detail (Mess with Britain’s bins at your peril, 9 August). The city of Birmingham did not elect a Tory mayor. That was the voters of the West Midlands, of whom about one-third live in Birmingham. Birmingham electors voted overwhelmingly for the Labour candidate. The (lord) mayor of Birmingham remains a city councillor elected by the city council.
Roy Boffy
Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands
• So Ben Schuman-Stoler (Letters, 10 August) is “head of salad” at Blinkist. Is there a head of lettuce who reports to him?
Patrick Sheehy
London
• If you find Pieceword too easy (Letters, 10 August), try using clue number 1, ignoring the rest, and following the puzzle’s symmetry to help piece the words together. It works!
Gilly Hatch
London
• Chris Baker wonders whether the ejaculation letters have reached a climax (Letters, 10 August). Is it possible that your male correspondents have finished sooner than their female counterparts?
Michael Cunningham
Wolverhampton
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