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Inner voices
When I read David Hambling’s article ‘Listening to the voice within’ [FT423:16], I became conscious that my ‘inner voice’ was reading the piece aloud in my mind. Obviously I’ve had this realisation before; I decided to ask my wife if she also had an inner voice when reading. After her slightly perplexed reaction to being asked such a question, she used my FT to read some words and agreed she did. This made we wonder how people with anauralia [mind deafness] manage to read anything. My inner voice seems integral to reading, but I can become unconscious of it just like with breathing. I can change the accent to be anything I want, but I can’t read without ‘hearing’ it, so how does someone read with “The Quiet”? I also read text messages from friends in my mind using their voices, which can be amusing.
Rob Shaw
Portsmouth, Hampshire
Raised pavements
Like Simon Besson [FT417:67], it has occurred to me that bones perhaps grow after being planted for millions of years. As for the planet swelling, it seems to me like a growth of new skin, swelling layer by layer, producing the strata. This is often attributed to alluvial deposition, but I remember once being in the city of Gloucester where there were windows in the pavement revealing Roman remains about 6 feet [1.8m] below the street, and I doubt alluvium was the cause. This has always puzzled me, since this would be a growth of about 36in [90cm] per millennium, about 3.6in [9cm] per century: so why is the pavement not one or two inches higher in the street where I grew up?
Adrienne O’Toole
By emai
Another football curse
Claire Davy’s article on Mayo’s football curse [FT421:51] reminded me of another sporting jinx. Bela Guttmann coached Lisbon’s football club Benfica to victory in the 1961 and 1962 European Cup. In view of this success, Guttmann asked the board of directors for a pay rise, only to be snubbed by the club’s hierarchy. He immediately resigned, cursing that they would never be champions of European football again. Benfica went on to reach the European Cup final in 1963, 1965, 1968 and 1988; they were defeated in all four matches. The 1990 final was played in Vienna, where Benfica met AC Milan. Before the contest, Eusebio, the Portuguese team’s great centre-forward, prayed at Guttmann’s grave, begging for the curse to be lifted. However, Benfica lost, 1-0.
Michael Wyndham
London
Leys
Jenny Randles in her article “Ley of The Land” [FT423:29] ascribes the frequent occurrence of ‘ley’ in placenames
