SIR – How wonderful to see the Kent and England cricketer Kenneth Hutchings in the article by Simon Heffer on cricketers who perished in the First World War.
Lt Hutchings was my father’s acting company commander in the King’s Liverpool Reg on the Somme, and they played a few matches together when away from the action. Hutchings was a real hero of my father’s, not just as a cricketer but as an officer and a gentleman, and it was no surprise, I suppose, that when I arrived in 1924 I was named after the great man.
Ken Thomas
Stockport, Cheshire
SIR – Simon Heffer’s father was born in 1898 and fought at the Somme. This leads me to wonder whether there is anyone alive today with a grandparent who was born in the 18th century.
Imagine a man born in 1799. He could, like Mr Heffer’s father, have had a child – it would have to be a boy – at a late age, 65 or so, meaning that the son would be born around 1864. The son then has a boy late in life, again at 65, so the grandson would be born in about 1929. Is this fanciful?
John Frost
Guildford, Surrey
Vaccines for dogs
SIR – I was very concerned to read about the side-effects experienced by many dogs given a vaccine against leptospirosis.
My 10 year-old Yorkie had the vaccine last week, and by the following night was clearly unwell. She was tense, breathing shallowly and did not respond to her name. In the morning she was unsteady on her feet and could not manage the stairs.
The vet prescribed Metacam and although she has improved is still very needy. I was not given information about possible adverse reactions, and had I known previously, would never have agreed to the vaccine.
Sylvia Scott
Freuchie, Fife
Heath’s triad
SIR – Michael McManus suggests that Britain’s departure from the EU will see the end of Edward Heath’s legacy.
No so. Heath did three seemingly minor things which in fact have been of great benefit to ordinary people. First, he made New Year’s Day a public holiday in England and Wales. Secondly, he abolished the petty rules about parking lights on cars at night, which were so tiresome for so many people in small towns. Thirdly, he abolished resale price maintenance.
These things remain to the credit of a person who, although not the greatest politician, was a decent man.
Michael Gorman
Guildford, Surrey
Blooming marvellous
SIR – I was surprised to read of the dearth of dog roses in East Sussex (Letters, July 3).
In the course of June, I made two return car journeys from East Yorkshire to Essex and repeatedly commented to my companion that, all along the route, the wild roses were flowering more sumptuously than I ever remember: a most glorious sight.
Ann Lawson Lucas
Beverley, East Yorkshire
