STRUAN Stevenson is in error regarding his article on the famous "'summit" between Elvis Presley and The Beatles in 1965 ("How Elvis Presley betrayed the ‘filthy’ Beatles to the FBI", The Herald, August 22). His contention that John Lennon's first involvement was to pin his anti-war credentials to the mast by denouncing President Lyndon Johnson plays to a tired narrative that casts the Beatle as a crusading dove to which, in 1965 and with the MBEs on the way, is mischievously premature by, at least four years.

There was no "all the way with LBJ" lamp in the Presley house and this has been confirmed by many members of the so-called "Memphis Mafia". The call to Hoover never took place and the Nixon inci-dent happened five years later. Even then, Elvis denounced the 'hippy culture" as a whole in a barely-concealed attempt to gain favour for an official narcotics badge. And yes, that is ironic.

As to the "feud"? Lennon turned up backstage at an Elton John concert in 1973 sporting an Elvis badge that he wore on many occasions throughout the period and only one month before his own tragic death in 1980, had contacted an Elvis magazine enthusiastically looking for some original photographs of his hero.

I realise that none of the aforementioned is as dramatic as Mr Stevenson's article but it happens to be the truth and not based on a fantasy.

Gerry McDade, Greenock.

WIND OF CHANGE

I AGREE with George Dale's letter (August 24), which argues that wind turbines are not green. I would like to add that they are also not reliable. From June 14 to 18 wind energy production across the UK and its offshore waters collapsed when, at times, solar power was zero. At one point the total output of 7,000 wind turbines was the equivalent of just 44 turbines at full production.

Are wind turbines just green prayer wheels?

Geoff Moore, Alness.

A BRIDGE TOO FAR

CAROLINE Young ("I was amused how quickly the wolf whistles turned into a salute when the soldiers noted our two pips,” Herald Magazine, August 22) writes: “In the summer of 1939 Tony Bartley flew under the Forth Road Bridge.”

The Forth Road Bridge was opened in 1964. However, the Forth Bridge was there in 1939.

Iain Ferguson, Prestwick.

THE BIRDS HAVE FLOWN

WHERE have all the sparrows gone? And the blackbirds and the tits??

Last week I became aware of the silence and the lack of flurry but I think it was about a week before that when I actually saw any small birds. I wonder if the constantly wheeling hungry seagulls are killing them? Or perhaps it is the magpies?

Does anybody have better news?

Lorna Taylor, Glasgow G12.

PINING FOR ANSWERS

I WAS interested to read the latest Scots Word of the Week (The Herald, August 22).

As children, my brothers and I were often given a basket and sent to the woods to collect “cockabendies for the fire”. These were pine cones but as no-one else seemed to have heard of the word I had come to the conclusion it must be a made-up family word. Now I wonder if any other readers are familiar with our use of the word?

Fiona McQueen, Lanark.