N. W. Lenton writes: The obituary of Duncan Carse (May 25) said that: “Immediately after the war Carse succeeded to the role of Dick Barton in the BBC’s first daily radio series. . .” In fact, Noel Johnson played Dick Barton from October 1946 until he resigned in January 1949. The role was then played by Duncan Carse from September 1949 until October 1950. Finally, Gordon Davies played the role until the series ended in March 1951.
Hugh Pile writes: As researcher, producer and editor of Weekend World, I worked with Mary Holland (obituary, June 9) from the mid-Seventies to the mid-Eighties. I regarded her with a mixture of awe and affection. She was the best-informed and most intelligent journalist on Northern Ireland I came across. Yet on the Weekend World team she was generous to a fault. She opened her contacts book to all who needed help. She initiated not only Peter Mandelson into the mysteries of the province, but also numerous other rising media talents who became better known later, such as David Cox, Nicholas Evans and Michael Attwell.
She did it all with a great grace and dignity. I saw Falls Road hard men guiltily shuffle their weapons away from her sight as she approached. Though she was universally regarded as a nationalist sympathiser, she was never to my knowledge turned down for an interview by a Unionist. The Rev Ian Paisley treated her with oldfashioned gallantry and roguish charm; she teased him back. She once commented to me that as a child he must have been a terror to his schoolteachers and had never changed.
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Her best and worst times were both connected with her 1974 Weekend World interview with David O’Connell, then chief of staff of the Provisional IRA. It was a very good television interview. But its transmission was followed a week later by the Birmingham bombs and the interview was excoriated inside and outside Parliament. Mary was robust. Although she always detested the politics of violence, she believed that in Ireland its voice should be publicly heard and judged.
Ann Kemp writes: I was fortunate to work for ABC / Thames Television in the late Sixties for Philip Jones (obituary, May 11).
Philip was the head of a very special light entertainment department which not only produced fine situation comedies and variety shows — making many actors household names — but also nurtured a superb team of directors and scriptwriters. He played an avuncular role with many unknowns but was always supported by a core of wellestablished presenters and artists. Philip was always ready to listen to new ideas but frequently the ideas were from him.
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Neville White writes: In addition to his football prowess, Dennis Wilshaw (obituary, May 14) was an enthusiastic and particularly skilled youth worker. He ran a club for a number of years in Newcastle-under-Lyme He had a gift for getting through to youngsters in a quiet and unassuming way, scarcely mentioning and certainly never boasting about his outstanding ability on the football field.
You referred to the 3-2 victory over the Hungarian side Honved. Dennis once told me that he had put in a full day’s teaching at Hanley High School and then driven from Stoke-on-Trent to Wolverhampton. On the way he was involved in an accident on the railway crossing at Stone, had a police escort to the ground, played a major part in the match (though he did not say this) and then received his fee — £2.
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