SIR - Keith Thomson (T&A, July 19) comes up with his explanation of the 19 degrees Centigrade in Iceland in July 1938.

I wonder what reason he will give for the most violent rainfall experienced in Bradford in July 1903 and other terrible weather which contributed to the delay in finishing the building of Cartwright Hall ("Read Hall About It" T&A, July 19).

That year there was continuous rain for 58 hours in mid-June and there was snow in Newmarket and Cambridgeshire. The eminent BBC weatherman, John Kettley, says: "Global warming - no, just an old-style British Summer."

If Mr Thomson's explanations are as accurate as his inability to copy my name correctly (twice he wrote Rushworth') what weight can be placed on them?

His expression in the photograph we see every week in the T&A reminds me of the character in Tommy Handley's ITMA programme who had the mournful catch-phrase: "It's being so cheerful that keeps me going."

The wonderful name given to her was Mona Lot! Cheer up, folks, the End of the World is not nigh!

Peter A Rushforth, Sutton Drive, Cullingworth