Cromwell's warts | | The Guardian

Samuel Cooper's portraits of Oliver Cromwell (More than warts and all, from the painter who told it like it was, 9 November) are brilliantly executed, but it is less than clear whether or not the words "warts and all" were ever uttered by Cromwell. The first account of Cromwell's instruction to Lely (not Cooper) does

Brief letters This article is more than 10 years oldLetters

Cromwell's warts

This article is more than 10 years old

Samuel Cooper's portraits of Oliver Cromwell (More than warts and all, from the painter who told it like it was, 9 November) are brilliantly executed, but it is less than clear whether or not the words "warts and all" were ever uttered by Cromwell. The first account of Cromwell's instruction to Lely (not Cooper) does not use those actual words but rather "pimples, warts and everything". This appears in Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting in England published in 1764, well over a century after Cromwell's death. The truth of Cromwell's instructions will remain unknown, but the phrase "warts and all" is what many in the 19th century believed Cromwell might, or even ought, to have said.
John Goldsmith
Curator, Cromwell Museum

Plans for the Royal Academy sound wonderful (Royal Academy gets £13m lottery cash for biggest revamp since Victorian age, 9 November). But will they keep the Victorian ladies' loo? Marvellously panelled, spacious and comfortable, they were a favourite port of call from my childhood in the 40s and probably the best of their kind in London.
Jill Knight
Hovingham, North Yorkshire

Your front-page article (Gas industry employee seconded to draft energy policy, 11 November) says it all in regards to where this government's loyalties and interests lie. What next – al-Qaida drafting security policies?
Keith F Cox
Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire

Andrew Pulver (Films that changed cinema, G2, 8 November) says that before Babe in 1995, talking animals "meant – basically – a cartoon. Or puppets." What about Mister Ed?
Jeff Lewis
Whitefield, Greater Manchester

So, who is "the stupidest MP in the present House of Commons" (Open door, 11 November)? You mustn't make the mistake of not telling us.
Roy Kettle
Hitchin, Hertfordshire

Guardian wrappers (Letters, 7 November)? Mine are used for veg from the allotment: some for friends, some for me.
Janet Mortimer
Lewes, Sussex

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