Sir Denis Rooke

Sir Fred Holliday, former Vice-Chancellor, the University of Durham, writes: Sir Denis Rooke (obituary, Sept 8) received an honorary DSc from Durham University. It was conferred upon him by Dame Margot Fonteyn, then the Chancellor. Most such graduates doff their cap and shake hands, but not Sir Denis; he enfolded Margot in a huge embrace. She was swamped by his size and his academic gown, emerging smiling but breathless.

Truly a man of style and gratitude.

Alistair Cooke writes: Your obituary of Denis Rooke presents him as the driving force behind the privatisation of British Gas as a single unit, “winning support for his view from Peter, now Lord Walker”. In fact it was the other way round. Walker was the zealot for privatisation; Rooke initially opposed him. It was only when the battle to defeat the Treasury’s insistence on the introduction of competition was well advanced that Rooke entered the lists on Walker’s behalf. As the latter put it subsequently, “he and the top managers, with one or two exceptions,changed their attitude and collaborated”. Again it was Walker who was responsible for the “Tell Sid” advertising campaign, though not without hesitation, since he had a brother of that name and feared press ribaldry. At the end of their association Walker described Rooke as “the best nationalised industry chairman I met”.

Dame Alison Munro

Dr Joanna Harries writes: With reference to your obituary (Sept 5) of Dame Alison Munro, high mistress of St Paul’s Girls’ School, and the comment about chemistry being taught in preference to cooking: Mrs Munro took the 8th Form (Upper Sixth) for current affairs. My abiding memory is of her demonstration of how to fold The Times (in broadsheet format) to read on the Underground, in preparation for a job in the City.

Norman Whitfield

Adam White writes: Your obituary of Norman Whitfield (Sept 19) appropriately reflected his talent and influence. It is worth mentioning his pre-Motown work at Thelma Records, the Detroit label operated by Berry Gordy’s first wife; and also how another local producer, Don Davis, helped Whitfield on his path to success. Also, his Motown songwriting partner, Barrett Strong, deserves more than a passing reference. Strong’s lyrics, exemplified by I Heard it Through the Grapevine, were an integral part of the whole. That said, Strong was the first to credit Whitfield’s remarkable drive and self-assurance as key to the pair’s peak period of productivity.

When Whitfield eventually left Motown it was in late 1974, not 1972; and Whitfield Records, with distribution by Warner Bros Records, was launched in 1976, not 1973.