LIKE most of my letters to HAS my recent one questioning the accuracy of the expression “historic town of Hartlepool

(HAS, Jan 13) was meant to be in jest.

However, it is apparent that my attempt at humour has completely passed by Tim Brown (HAS, Jan 18).

Hartlepool is, of course, a fine town with many claims to fame, including notable boxers, the 1914 Bombardment, shipbuilding and those two national treasures, H’angus the Monkey and Jeff Stelling. If all this adds up to justifying the expression of “historic town of Hartlepool” I will leave it to others to judge.

In my opinion, in places like York and Durham the sense of history is almost overwhelming and they have to be the jewels in the roll call of North-East historical settings.

Martin Birtle, Billingham.