Saturday's Letters: Robin Hood and the accent on authenticity

However, as the most likely candidate for the original Robin Hood came from Outwood, lived in Wakefield bus station, was outlawed at Pontefract (then the county town of the West Riding) and took refuge in Barnsdale Forest, centred upon Wentbridge, then perhaps he should have modelled his accent on Ian Clayton rather than Parky.

The known facts were accurately and entertainingly set out in a Channel Four documentary, Robin Hood; Fact or Fiction?, fronted by Tony Robinson.

This is often repeated on the digital channel, More Four, and is well worth watching for those who deplore the constant regurgitation of the spurious Nottingham connection.

I have spoken on the subject of the real Robin Hood throughout

Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and even in London.

When the facts are logically set out, even the inhabitants of Nottingham cannot deny that Robin was one of us.

From: Eric Houlder, chairman, Pontefract and District Archaeological Society, Fairview, Carleton, Pontefract.

From Brian Sheridan, Redmires Road, Sheffield.

BETWEEN paroxysms of laughter, my wife read out to me the story of how Russell Crowe played Robin Hood with an accent based on his "friend", Sir Michael Parkinson. Little wonder the big-budget movie turned out to be a disappointment in America.

Crowe claimed that the legendary outlaw came from Barnsdale, so he "listened a lot to Parky", a price many of us would consider a price too high to pay.

Surely he couldn't be confusing Barnsdale with Barnsley?

Does he not know that Parky is now rather posh and we Yorkshire folk

get a picture of Robin deferentially interviewing a victim before apologetically relieving him of his cash?

Directors should have learned from Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins, that if an actor cannot get an accent right, he had better leave it alone.

Nobody knows exactly what Robin Hood would have sounded like; accents evolve over generations let alone centuries.

In Hal B Wallis's incomparable 1938 version of the Robin Hood legend, Errol Flynn played himself, accent and all, as he always did.

It was spellbinding.

Buy British and make do and mend

From: H.Marjorie Gill, Clarence Drive, Menston, West Yorkshire.

IT seems to me we are facing a war on want.

Those of us who survived the Second World War remember very clearly how we had to manage.

There were no imports of anything like cheap clothing or food. What we had, had to last and be mended or repaired and replaced with our own efforts.

How much more useful would be a row of sewing machines rather than a row of computers in our schools. There used to be a song: "A Sewing Machine, A Sewing Machine's a girl's best friend".

Instead of shopping for bargains from the Far East, it would be better to learn to make clothes, or knit jumpers. Many schools are teaching their pupils to be self-sufficient in food growing; surely lessons in cooking will follow.

We must learn to buy British and make everything possible with our own skills.

A man was grumbling about the possibility of VAT on children's clothing, so what better way to combat that than to learn to make them in house, so to speak. We've done it before and can do it again. Perhaps new businesses will start up, who knows?

It is no good grumbling about the profligacy of governments and bankers, it's happened, so we'll have to get on with doing our best. We shall pull through and be all the better for it.

A snapshot of avian beauty

From: Mrs Carey Inman-Harrison, Church Lane, Hampsthwaite, Harrogate.

WHILE we were sitting in our garden, in Hampsthwaite, last Saturday, we heard the distinctive sound of birds screeching in warning to others.

When we looked up in the sky, we were amazed to see the wonderful sight of a beautiful red kite – the calls were two much smaller birds very obviously chasing it from their patch.

I rushed inside to get my camera. It was one of those truly amazing moments – we were very privileged to see such a magnificent bird effectively in our garden. It made our weekend.

Nature has that special way of reviving the spirits.

I hope we get to see him again very soon.

Pavement peril in Leeds

From: John Sykes, Old Lane, Otley, West Yorkshire.

I SEE from your article (Yorkshire Post, May 17) that, at long last, there may be some renovation of Lower Kirkgate, in Leeds city centre.

This is not before time because using a manual wheelchair, pushed by my long-suffering wife, we both can bear witness to its state.

Some weeks ago, we went to a memorial service at Leeds Parish Church and we chose to walk from Leeds railway station.

What a mistake. Along Duncan Street, pavements poor. In front of the Corn Exchange they were even worse, and down Lower Kirkgate they were worse still.

Returning to the Vicar Lane area after the service to meet friends for lunch – by which time we had to take advantage of help from three different sets of passers-by to avoid the chair tipping over – we recovered enough to tackle the way back to the station, again assisted by a passer-by.

Being born and bred in Leeds, and both being well past our three score and ten, I never thought the city would decline to such an extent as

it has.

At the beginning 2009, I raised the subject of Otley area pavements with our local MP, Greg Mulholland. As a result, we were contacted by

an aide of one of the Leeds city councillors, who had a tour of the centre of Otley, noting pavement faults, including Kirkgate, in that town.

The lady did point out that her role was purely advisory. Needless to say, nothing was done.

But an example of what can be is Yeadon Town Street. Though disruptive in the construction stage, the end product is much better for all concerned

Come on, Leeds, pull your socks up for once and show you can do

something right.

Age discrimination shame of the NHS

From: Alice Pollard, Rockwood Close, Skipton.

YOUR newspaper was right to give prominence to the age discrimination case by Mrs Linda Sturdy (Yorkshire Post, May 20) against the NHS.

What a remarkable lady she must be for enduring the stress of all those years before the case came to court and, in the meantime, not doing nothing, but undergoing re-training and getting herself another job.

Frankly, I don't want a supposedly-caring organisation like the NHS to be run by people who were "high-handed, oppressive, malicious and insulting".

If they would treat an employee of Mrs Sturdy's lengthy and caring career in such an appalling fashion, what does it say about their ability to organise their trust for the sick?

It's no good the trust's head of resources – she couldn't bring herself to say "sorry" to Mrs Sturdy – coming out with the useless comment of "learn lessons".

It is not enough that those who have created a case like this should be able to hide behind large corporate payouts and bland comments. Justice to both the taxpayer and Mrs Sturdy requires disciplinary action and/or heads to roll.

It is time that those who work for public organisations like the NHS exercise some personal responsibility for the actions they take, the distress they cause and the money they needlessly waste.

We can see with MPs how they squeal and squirm over the expenses issue, but I bet many of them will think twice before filling out an expenses claim in the future.

We're all in debt to Labour

From: Thomas Black, Denton, Ilkley, West Yorkshire.

IN this debt-ridden world, large numbers proliferate. It is easy to lose focus when millions become billions and the new word for many of us now is a trillion.

To put this into perspective, consider the following question: how long is a million seconds? The answer is just less than 12 days. How long is a billion seconds? The answer is just less than 32 years.

Now you have an idea of how deep the problems are created by the last government. This was underlined by David Miliband, one of the

prospective leaders of the Socialists.

He went on a tour to find out why more people didn't vote for his

party. I think I could save his time... try debt, Gordon Brown, incompetence, arrogance, mismanagement and debt again.

Speedy solution to road repairs

From: Judith Speight, Staincross, Barnsley.

AFTER the devastation caused by the unusually frosty weather, my thoughts were going along the lines that the money gained from speeding fines, incurred when caught on camera, could be used to repair the dreadful state of the roads.

But then I realised that they would probably be suffering with a drop in revenue because we are having to drive so slowly to protect our suspension and prevent whiplash.

Cold comfort

From: Lady Marjorie Mason, Victoria Avenue, Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

I READ Jayne Dowle's article (Yorkshire Post, May 13) which was spot on, as far as we older folk are concerned.

I have a sick husband who soon feels the cold, and there will be lots of people our age (in our 80s) and less, who have had to keep the

heating on much longer these past months.

Fuel poser

From: G Ellison, Hawthorn Avenue, Dronfield, Derbyshire.

WHEN the price of fuel increases, will the handful of Tory hauliers and farmers try to bring the country to a standstill?

Will William Hague call them "fine, upstanding gentlemen" as he did when in opposition?