Letter: When to start the new millennium bash

Sir: Not only is Michael Dean mathematically and historically correct in asserting (letter, 29 September) that the new millennium will begin on 1 January 2001 and not 1 January 2000, he also has the backing of common usage on the last such occasion.

Anyone who has had to consult newspapers of the early 20th century - as was my task when writing the biographies of Sir Arthur Sullivan and Sir Henry J. Wood - will have noted that the new century was celebrated in January 1901, not January 1900. Apparently the nation registered a higher level of numeracy in those pre-calculator, pre-computer days.

Yours faithfully,

ARTHUR JACOBS

29 September