Letter: In brief

Sir: The use of the term "British" in Radio 4's "British personality of the millennium" (report, 29 December) shows a depressing ignorance of history. In what sense can anyone in the last 1,000 years have been "British" before the Union of 1707? Shakespeare was a great English writer, who wrote about "Britain" only twice, in King Lear and Cymbeline. He would have found the idea that he was "British" absurd.

ALAN MacCOLL

St Andrews, Fife