Here are a couple of letters representing the extremes of the many that I have received:
Abusive Letter re Dunking
Sir,
I have just watched a programme on TV on how to dunk a biscuit which I believe was a project headed by yourself.
What a complete waste of time, of manpower and machinery. Who in their right mind could sanction this scheme. I am sure you could be more dutifully employed as street cleaners or ticket collectors. Is this what goes on at English Universaties [sic] these days, its no wonder we are falling behind in World affairs.
G.A.Trueman
School Boy’s Letter on Dunking
Dear Dr Fisher,
I saw your interesting article called “Scientist discovers why dunking takes the biscuit” in the Guardian on Wednesday 25th November 98. I looked at your formula but don’t think you take in the fact that the thickness of the biscuits can affect the result.
I have a couple of questions for you. What exactly is L – is it how long you hold the biscuit in for? D and t are they constant? D – is the size/diameter of the holes vary and can change. T – would this be variable depending on the density of the biscuit.
Please send me some biscuits for noticing this.
Respectfully,
Chao Quan, aged 12
Len Fisher: There is obviously a lot of confusion here, some of which is reflected in confusion in the newspaper story. Not all journalists got it right!