Mother preferred Dr over Miss or Mrs | Brief letters

Alison Hackett (Letters, 17 August) complains at the use of “Dr” and “Prof” titles. But they can prove useful. Our mother Anne McLaren (a single parent, and a biologist who, working with mice, created the world’s first IVF birth, and became the first woman officer of the Royal Society in their 300-year history, as foreign secretary and vice-president), was asked, “Is it ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs’?”. We three kids watched and wondered how she would respond. “No,” she said firmly, “It’s ‘Dr’.”
Prof Jonathan Michie
President, Kellogg College, Oxford

• If the editor wants to fill the letters page with letters from Margarets (Letters, 17 August), she should act soon, as peak Margaret was in 1900 when it was third most popular name for baby girls. When I had come on the scene in the late 1930s it was eighth, and by the time politics became aware of Maggie Thatcher it lingered at 95th. We are a dying breed.
Margaret Squires
St Andrews, Fife

• For a small fee I’m sure that I and my colleagues in Shrewsbury Handbells (or our cowbell ensemble) would be happy to stand in for Big Ben (G2, 16 August), though musically the tune is not nearly as challenging as most of our repertoire.
Bill Britnell
Shrewsbury, Shropshire

• Two letters (16 August) from mothers fuming that they can’t buy shoes or clothes for their daughters that are not pink and sparkly. I agree, it’s stupid. But in the meantime can’t they buy them some boys’ shoes or T-shirts? Would the difference be in any way obvious?
Kath Howard
Telford, Shropshire

• I have always felt that the notice “Dogs must be carried on the escalator” was an unnecessary burden on non-dog-owning travellers (Letters, 17 August).
Karl Sabbagh
Bloxham, Oxfordshire

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