I HAVE often maintained that in this country the recipe for celebrity status is 50 per cent barefaced cheek, 40 per cent over-confidence and ten per cent talent.

The comparison of famous residents of St Petersburg and Darlington - in your article headed "Russian community looks to town in region for inspiration" (Echo, May 19) - adds substance to this argument.

St Petersburg: Dostoevsky, Faberge, Lenin, Pavlova, Putin.

Darlington: Joseph Pease, Zoe Birkett, Vic Reeves, Darrien Wright.

As a resident of Darlington I find this rather demeaning.

E Pickering, Darlington