Second-class memory

SIR: Peter Burke’s memory is perhaps failing him (Memory Lane, February issue): first- and second-class postage was not introduced until 1968; and although I was younger than him and have no memory of the death of George VI, I doubt that ‘everyone in the street walked and talked quietly for King George VI was dying…’ He died in his sleep, although there was certainly some anxiety when he appeared at the departure of his daughter for Africa a few days before. An earlier trip to Canada by Princess Elizabeth had been delayed in the autumn of the previous year and this one would surely have been postponed if his death was thought to be

imminent. This, in contrast to his father, George V, whose imminent death at Sandringham in 1935 was advised by a notice on the gates which read ‘The King’s life is drawing peacefully towards its close’.

Nevertheless, Peter Burke’s description of the funeral train passing over the Wharncliffe viaduct is very vivid and worthy of inclusion. The Revd Peter Kettle, London SW1.

SIR: Peter Burke mis-remembers his birthday postal delivery in the early 1950s. First- and second-class post only came into being in 1968. In the 1950s, however, post was very reliable and there were two deliveries a day. I have a theory that nowadays post arrives when it arrives whether you put a first- or second-class stamp on it.

I would miss our postman if he did not come with his biscuit for the dog and some local gossip but for most things email has surely taken over. John Kennett, Hadlow, Kent.