In 1958 Tony Hancock had a very different take on the British Sunday from Sian Dudley’s bucolic vision (Letters, 30 August), as outlined in the Hancock’s Half Hour episode Sunday Afternoon at Home: “I might just as well be in bed: there’s nothing else to do. [Sigh] I wish I hadn’t got up now … I hate Sundays. It’s not like this on the continent: it’s their big day over there. All the cafes open and football matches and race meetings – everybody’s gay. Aahh! Not over ’ere though! Everything’s shut up.”
My memory accords with the bard of East Cheam. What we have now, and didn’t then, is choice.
Bob Waring
Southport, Merseyside
Sian Dudley was lucky having such a relaxed Sunday as a child. My 1950s Sundays were rather different. My brothers and I had to go to church in the morning and Sunday school in the afternoon, we didn’t have a telly and I hated board games. I like my 2026 Sundays.
Martin Cooper
Bromley, London
