Sir, If only the senior churchmen who are reacting angrily to Madame Tussaud’s Nativity tableau starring Mr and Mrs Beckham as Mary and Joseph (reports, photographs and leading article December 8) would make front-page news on matters of substance rather than trivia. Hasn’t it dawned on them that the Nativity scenes being enacted all over the country feature ordinary folk representing the players in the original scene?

Here in the Cotswolds we will be utilising the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker without a detailed assessment of their personal habits. After all, it’s not so easy these days to find a virgin of an appropriate age, especially one with a baby.

Yours faithfully,
BRUCE RHODES,
Jacobean House,
Winchcombe,
Gloucestershire GL54 5LR.
December 8.

From Mr Leofranc Holford-Strevens

Sir, The outcry against David and Victoria Beckham as Joseph and Mary is risible. What character tests were imposed on the persons so portrayed in the churches and art galleries of the world?

How many courtesans (and no one is calling Posh that) must have served as models for the Virgin — or do the critics imagine that painters and sculptors were all vouchsafed personal visions?

Yours faithfully,
LEOFRANC HOLFORD-STREVENS,
67 St Bernard’s Road,
Oxford OX2 6EJ.
aulus@gellius.demon.co.uk
December 8.

From Mrs Jan Newton

Sir, As a Christian, I am disappointed that senior churchmen disapprove of Madame Tussaud’s Nativity. In a secular society, why not use a high-profile couple to help people at least question and ponder the true message of Christmas?

Yours faithfully,
JAN NEWTON,
No 3, 141 Old Woking Road,
Woking, Surrey GU22 8PD.
December 8.

From Mr Chris Torrero

Sir, In my edition, your headline asks: “Was it a wise move to create Beckham nativity?” In view of the front-page publicity given to it by The Times, the answer is clearly “Yes”.

Yours faithfully,
CHRIS TORRERO,
27 Clayton Road,
Chessington, Surrey KT9 1ND.
December 8.

From Mr Stephen Rayner

Sir, Some naff pop singer as the Virgin Mary is bad enough. But George W. Bush as a Wise Man takes the biscuit.

Yours, etc,
STEPHEN RAYNER,
Shaftesbury House, Newton Road,
Faversham, Kent ME13 8DZ.
snrayner@btinternet.com
December 8.

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