As a small child at a convent school in London in the 1950s, I had an attack of hiccups in the playground one day. Mother Ignacius (a small, terrifying nun) was on duty. Beckoning me to her, she took a penknife from her pocket, opened the blade and pointed it at me. “Hold this!” she commanded. For what seemed like an eternity but was probably a matter of seconds, she glared at me while I held on to the blade, trembling. I stopped hiccuping immediately through sheer terror – of the nun rather than the blade (Drinking straw device is instant cure for hiccups, say scientists, 18 June).
Margaret Histed
Bristol
• At teacher training college in the 60s, we had to wear large navy blue knickers for PE and dance (Letters, 17 June). As it was a church college we called them “harvest festivals” as “all is safely gathered in”.
Rev Margaret Roylance
Tenterden, Kent
• Virginia Woolf heard birds singing in Greek and blamed her own mental state. Does recent evidence (Do Norfolk birds speak Punjab? 10 June; Letters, 17 June) support the case for a biographical reassessment?
Sheila Cornelius
Southport, Merseyside
• Heaven forfend that I should want to advertise my advanced age (Letters, 18 June); I merely wish to moan about not getting a letter into the Guardian since 1955.
Richard Thomas
Wye, Kent
• To be fair (Edwin Poots resigns as DUP leader after 21 days in post, 17 June), three weeks is a long time if you are a creationist.
Jude Carr
Charlton, London
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