UR TV CAST

Kleinmut, who is Chief Disney Jesus Story Co-ordinator, Europe.
Here they are. (The five minutes.) Me: Doesn’t it seem a strange idea to retell the Bible story, when it has already been quite well told? Disney: Has it? By whom? Me: In the Bible. To allay fears about the Disney treatment of a Bible story, Disney executives have been giving interviews to selected members of the press, and I was lucky enough to have five minutes with Ralph J. This brave decision has been made partly because it makes sense from a millennium marketing point of view, partly because there aren’t many Old World classics left that they haven’t already dealt with. It was only a matter of time before Disney decided to go for the ultimate and make an animated film based on the life of Jesus. May I point out the single most obvious flaw in Peter Mann’s republican diatribe (letter, 5 February)?

If we had been a republic at the beginning of the Second World War we would have been stuck with President Chamberlain – and lost! The true value of constitutional monarchy is that it makes bad political leaders instantly disposable.
JOHN DAVISBookham, Surrey.

It was this sturdy businesslike resourcefulness, uncommon among little mag editor-publishers, which underlay the extraordinary solvency of Stand to which the article paid due respects.
MICHAEL HOROVITZLondon W11. When Jon sold copies of his magazine Stand at cinema queues, among many other places, it was a “sacred” and not a “secret” blue invoice-book he invariably had with him, for sale or return consignments and the like. He did fly over (by Concorde) for an exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Perhaps Mayor Giuliani would consider letting us have the toys on loan for the millennium exhibition?ANN THWAITELow Tharston, Norfolk. Michael Glover’s graphic summary of the celebration of the late lamented poet Jon Silkin (“Memories of a poet’s passion”, 4 February) was invaded by a gremlin. Shepard’s first drawings, was based not on this bear, but on his own son’s Growler.Rosa Prince is wrong to say that Pooh has not seen England in the last fifty years.

I have seen him several times and he looks remarkably comfortable, though Kanga has problems with her throat and Tigger has lost the bounce he has in The House At Pooh Corner.
As Christopher Milne once said, the toys “even in their prime were no more than a first rough sketch, the merest hint of what they were to become” Pooh, in E.H. As Pooh’s biographer, I am naturally interested in Gwyneth Dunwoody’s plea for his return to England (report, 6 February)

Your reports says he is “languishing” in New York. Although we feel a little more confident after a drink, research on highly skilled bus drivers has shown that their judgement was affected long before their skills deteriorated. After a very small amount of alcohol, they were sure they could drive an 8ft bus between posts 7ft 9in apart.
JOHN A ROSEGiggleswick, North Yorkshire.

In reply to James Hannaway, who says that those who drink two pints before driving are just as safe as they are when tired or otherwise not at their best (letter, 4 February): being tired or having a cold is part of the human condition which we cannot avoid; we can choose not to drink and drive. In fact, focus-group research is never used in BBC Television as a deciding factor in any commissioning decision.
ALAN YENTOBBBC Director of TelevisionLondon W12. No focus-group research was undertaken to consider the project. But in the UK, fluoride addition is rigorously monitored to top up naturally occurring fluoride to one part per million. Its benefits over the last 25 years have been very clear.
J E MURRELLWest Wickham, Kent. Further to your article (6 February) concerning Michael Wearing and the BBC’s drama serials output, may I set the record straight about the decision-making process on the Janet Neel adaptations? The decision not to proceed was entirely an editorial judgement made by the Controller of BBC1, Peter Salmon, in the context of the very strong range of drama titles on offer to him.

Many of these are thirty years old, small-scale, incapable of repetition, without benefit of peer review and, most importantly, relate to varying levels of fluoridation

Early US projects were at 5 parts per million. In areas of India, fluoride occurs naturally at 14 parts per million and causes widespread physical damage, especially where malnutrition exists. Maureen Maddock (letter, 7 February) summarises a miscellany of “scientific” studies on fluoride taken from world-wide sources. What a pity they won’t have the chance.LEONARD WOODINGGravesend, Kent. Among the discoveries that visitors from home and overseas could have made is the superb quality of theatre that exists outside Stratford-upon- Avon and the West End. Surely the regional arts boards and theatre management should be working together to encourage more Britons to support one of the few areas in which we still lead the world?Closing theatres like the Greenwich won’t help, because they are the very places where people can afford to discover the magic of live theatre, and develop the theatre-going habit.