Letter: Keep your shirt in

Sir: With regard to H James's concern about shirt tails (Letter, 10 November), I recall reading that the shirt tail was originally long enough to be pulled between the legs and up at the front.

In this way it provided a buffer zone between coarse trouser fabric and the more delicate items kept within.

The invention of underpants caused this practice to be unnecessary and the tail has gradually shrunk to the point where it serves only to keep one's shirt tucked in. Or not, as the case may be.

CHRIS HARRY

Potters Bar, Hertfordshire