Letter: Time for Auntie to stir into action

Sir: A schoolboy in 1937, I wrote to the BBC enclosing a list of what serious music I had been able to hear during the course of one month. Within a week I received a reply, with handwritten salutation and signature, from Sir Adrian Boult, then Head of Music and Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. His letter commended my listening and gently warned me that sleep, too, was important for a growing youth.

I am not alone in finding that the current BBC attitude to courtesy leaves almost everything to be desired, yet only a few decades ago, when I was producer of pre-classical music, all letters were either answered or acknowledged within two or three days. This is, regrettably, not now the case. Letters, music and scripts are either ignored or 'lost', no matter who the sender might be. Perhaps it is high time to replace inefficient and incivil servants with others who can maintain the earlier and more productive standards of radio communication.

Yours sincerely,

DENIS STEVENS

London, SE3

19 April