I wanted to have my ears pierced. It was 1976, and a friend in Brighton, Stephanie, said I should come to this new shop in the North Laine there. My ears were pierced in the back of the shop, although not by Anita Roddick. The tiny shop was an Aladdin’s cave of small bottles and jars, all full of new smells and interesting possibilities. RIP The Body Shop (Zoe Williams, 13 February).
Lynn Wiseman
Lewes, East Sussex
• So the sale of a Downing Street visitors’ book from the Margaret Thatcher era has been blocked because “it belongs to the nation, not … to be sold” (Report, 13 February). Had Thatcher taken the same position in 1989, on the privatisation of the water industry, we might have cleaner rivers now.
Patricia Baker-Cassidy
Oxford
• I agree with Ralph Fiennes’ view on trigger warnings in theatres (Report, 11 February), but would be sad to see them cut from TV shows. My wife and I always smile at the warning before episodes of The Wire: “This programme contains strong and frequent language.”
Stephen Chicken
Swinton, Scottish Borders
• Your obituary of Michael Jayston (5 February) makes no reference to his outstanding performance as Siegfried Sassoon in Mad Jack, a BBC Wednesday Play that won a Monte Carlo festival award in 1971.
Roger Mortimore
Madrid, Spain
• My late friend and mentor, Prof David Farmer, told me, on being awarded the title himself, that “emeritus” translated to “drained of all merit” (Letters, 13 February).
Richard Lamming
Shaldon, Devon
• Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
