Another line in the David Beckham tattoo saga | Brief letters
You report that Lord Martin (Obituary, 30 April) was the last Speaker of the House of Commons to resign “since Sir John Trevor in 1695”. This is, to put it kindly, historically inaccurate. Sir John Trevor did not resign. He was expelled from the house. Two other Speakers in succeeding centuries were denied re-election: Sir Fletcher Norton in 1780 and Sir Charles Manners-Sutton in 1835.
Philip Norton
University of Hull
This May bank holiday, the striking pose assumed by the new home secretary will be a frequent sight at the helm of particularly shiny boats, often topped off with the wearing of a white captain’s hat.
Ian Grieve
Gordon Bennett, Shropshire Union canal
Fantastic puzzles again this week, especially from Vlad and Qaos. Cue unsolicited topical clue from a reader: “Stormy Daniels. I never had sex with that woman. I did not pay her $130,000 out of campaign funds (7).” Answer: Denials.
Mick Gough
Stoke on Trent
I, like Valerie Roebuck (Letters, 3 May), have studied Sanskrit but I have never come across the combination of “v” and “h” found at the beginning of David Beckham’s tattoo. The letter “h” is never used to modify a preceding consonant, as it so often is in English. So we can’t sink the notion that the tattoo is misspelled.
Andrew Lewis
Heswall, Wirral
My spellchecker thinks my name should be Coitus (Letters, 4 May).
Stuart Coutts
Church Stretton, Shropshire
I’m quite content to be referred to as Brain.
Brian Matthews
Wrexham
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