JEAN Forrest (Letters, September 5), decried the fact that some of your correspondents use noms-de-plumes.

For myself, I am always a little bit doubtful that some who do provide a signature use one that is truly theirs.

If someone signed 'Saddam Hussein' I would not be shocked, for, indeed, it is a common name for people not of English origin.

Another one is Jesus. It is a name used throughout Spain for male persons.

I let my imagination flow freely when I see John B. Lunt. You will find it in the 1963 telephone directory for London South. I imagine him to be a homosexual, marijuana-smoking cross dresser!

Then, you will find D Pearson vice-chairman of the Conservative and Unionist Party. I wonder which union? So, in my mind, I amalgamate his union with Arthur Scargill's.

Myself, I often get mistaken for the feminine gender, but being 5ft 10in, with a paunch, it is difficult for those who know me to imagine me as anything other than the male species.

FRANCIS H CROSS, Royds Street, Accrington.

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