Lion of London Bridge

Sir: Douglas Murray’s well-presented essay (‘Don’t be a hero’, 13 May) brings to mind the bravery of the Millwall fan Roy Larner, who fought off three knife-wielding religious fanatics in a terror attack, saving the lives of many others in the process. Stabbed eight times and in a critical condition, the ‘Lion of London Bridge’ managed to drive his attackers off. This was five years ago and yet, despite meeting all criteria for courage of the highest order, Mr Larner has yet to receive any public citation, let alone the George Cross he so obviously deserves. One wonders what is delaying this long overdue recognition.

John B. Cowper

Taplow, Buckinghamshire

Heroic admonishment

Sir: Douglas Murray reminds us of those noble citizens who ‘have a go’ when someone does something wrong. Before the Troubles ended, my father challenged a thief trying to steal a neighbour’s car on the north/south border in Fermanagh. He chased him into the post office and, despite being aged 75, he felled the thief and sat on him until police arrived. An officer said to the thief: ‘You could have been killed.’ The reply was: ‘I know, with that old boy sitting on me!’ It ended with an arrest, but also a caution for my father for injuries to the thief. He never tested his hero nerve again.

Ian Elliott

Belfast 

Salisbury’s rat

Sir: Jon Day’s ‘Notes on… Rats’ (13 May) reminded me of a rat recovered from the skull of William Longespée, the first person buried in Salisbury Cathedral, which was found when his tomb was opened in 1791.

Long exhibited in Salisbury Museum, the rat’s fame is now assured: its desiccated remains are displayed in the cathedral alongside the tomb itself. That the rat contained traces of arsenic poison supports suspicion at the time of Longespée’s sudden death that he may have been murdered, though it is not exactly proof. Few rats can command more attention or inspire children’s interest in history through such a gruesome past than this one.

Peter Saunders

Curator Emeritus, Salisbury Museum

Three coronations

Sir: I was able to draw the attention of your distinguished former editor, Lord Moore of Etchingham, in the House of Lords Tea Room to a slight error in his recent column (Notes, 6 May). He suggested that no one alive today has an adult memory of what was expected in the coronation of George VI in 1937. My mother-in-law was 21 at the time and is now 107, so she has witnessed three coronations. She has also received three birthday cards from the late Queen (for her 100th, 105th and 106th birthdays) and a card from the new King (for her 107th). ‘A hand of three queens and a king is pretty good’, as she says.

Lord Rennard

House of Lords, London SW1A

More on Millennial Millie

Sir: Lara Prendergast introduces us to Millennial Millie as the modern Mondeo Man (‘Meet Millennial Millie’, 13 May). While the characterisation may seem quite niche to the Home Counties, Millie’s inability to access the housing market is one of the big challenges the Conservative party needs to address if it is to gain the trust of a new generation. The solution to date, by all parties, has been to build their way out of the problem. While there remains a need to increase supply, the real solution must lie in finance. Greater supply only helps if it lowers prices, which it has patently failed to do so far and which would undermine the stability of many more households if it did. Ensuring affordable access to long-term secured finance is vital, to ensure Millie and her friends – who are already earning well and spending vast sums on rent – can secure the future that many of us took for granted. 

Matthew Barber

West Hanney, Oxfordshire

Home Office antics

Sir: Charles Moore (Notes, 29 April) is aggrieved by the ‘arrogance of ministers and officials’ he detects in the government’s continued lack of response to contacts from Sir James Dyson. Their contempt for less prominent citizens is even more pronounced. In December 2021 I wrote to the Home Office asking about the legitimacy of their policy of bringing illegal immigrants ashore from the Channel, in the context of their stated duty (on the Home Office website) of securing our borders and keeping Britons safe. Despite my repeated follow-ups, I have yet to receive a focused response. And still, despite the public outrage at the injustice of the policy, the people in the boats are ferried ashore and accommodated in comparative luxury, while many thousands of Britons sleep rough. How does the Home Office get away with doing the opposite of its duty?

Chris Male 

Weston-super-Mare

My spoon

Sir: I was fascinated to read Robert Tombs’s account of the gold coronation spoon (‘Notes on…’, 6 May). I possess an exact replica of it, known as my ‘christening spoon’, and had always wondered why the bowl was divided. Now the secret is revealed! Presumably these replicas were sold as souvenirs when Queen Elizabeth was crowned.

Prudence Jones

Cambridge

For the birds

Sir: Matthew Parris says in his review of the concert he attended in Guadix (‘Looking without seeing’, 6 May) that the music would only be a ‘strange noise’ to the birds and be ‘not saying anything’ to them. We enjoy birdsong even though we cannot know its meaning. Why should the little birds not likewise get some pleasure from Brahms? I suspect it is more than merely noise to them.

Gordon Ingle

Hampstead

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