The Right Rev Hassan Dehqani-Tafti

Yasmin Galloway writes: I remember The Right Rev Hassan Dehqani-Tafti (obituary, May 12) well from my days in Iran in the late 1970s, when I lived a street away from St Luke’s church in Isfahan. I was awestruck by this cultured, learned man — I can still vividly recall discussing with him such things as the subtleties of Persian poetry and the heritage of Islamic science. I owe my fluency in Farsi to him, while I helped him out on his New Testament Greek.

I also witnessed his remarkable efforts in education, especially schooling for girls. He was committed to social justice, on the basis of which he and I both mistakenly supported the revolution. But in 1979, under pressure to leave, we had to make the choice, in his words, “between Thatcher and Khomeini”. I promptly fled to England but he bravely, if briefly, remained.

Frederick Bonnart

Christopher Lee writes: As someone who knew Freddy Bonnart (obituary, May 10 ) for more than 30 years, I would add that although he appeared very Establishment he had an independence of mind that made his pieces in The Times and The International Herald Tribune required reading at all levels at Nato HQ in Brussels.

He was certainly a figure of another period and would appear, most correctly dressed, at spa towns to take the waters and gentle après-ski pleasures. One evening, at the age of 80 or so, in the Army & Navy Club (his London “residence”) he told me that he had that season given up skiing — but only because his instructor had retired. Instead, he concentrated on writing a novel based on Don Giovanni and his further translation of Pushkin.

Sir Anthony Kershaw

Anthony Wigram writes: Anthony Kershaw (obituary, May 5) was one of the first Conservative MPs to join Conservative Action for Electoral Reform (CAER) when it was formed in 1974 after the general election which gave victory to Labour although it won 250,000 fewer votes than the Conservatives. This seemed unfair but the main reason for Anthony’s support was his aversion to the system of so-called “adversary politics”and the destructive effect of parties with different programmes alternating in office. Proportional representation was fiercely opposed by Margaret Thatcher when she became leader in 1975, but, typically, Anthony remained loyal to CAER, probably to the detriment of his career. He was a greatly respected colleague.

Professor W. R. Keatinge

Dr Philip Penny writes: In 1962, as a young medical adviser to the Amateur Swimming Association, I found myself amazed by Bill Keatinge’s dedication in the name of research (obituary, May 8). He spent many an hour in iced baths, with temperature-reading instruments in various bodily orifices. He was subsequently the author of the standard textbook Immersion in Cold Water. This not only saved the lives of professional mariners and divers, but, equally, those overenthusiastic Christmas Day dippers who were only acclimatised to heated indoor pools.

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