IN reply to Sylvia A Smith (HAS, Aug 30), my original letter which simply asked, “Will the BBC’s tribute to the Great War be over by Christmas?” was intended to be humorous but certainly not sarcastic or mocking. Rather it was meant to be a “tongue in cheek” rebuke to the BBC for its saturation coverage of the war, but I did intend to emphasise a wider, more serious point.

Certainly I intended to bring home the poignant message that many of the original volunteer troops believed that the hostilities would be over by Christmas – it remains a tragedy that this was not the case.

The serious point I was trying to make in my letter was to query the almost hysterical coverage of this anniversary in the media and to speculate about the desirability of the nation becoming so obsessed with the past, no matter how glorious. Nationally we do seem sometimes to be engrossed with the past and I would suggest this encourages a state of mind where “the only thing to look forward to is the past” (apologies to Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads).

What my letter was not intended to do was to question the valour of our troops. I’m well aware of the horror of war; my father was badly wounded at Dunkirk.

VJ Connor, Bishop Auckland.