Dear Editor,

I wanted to pay tribute to Mervyn James.

As well as regularly providing clothes for my father and myself after my parents opened Ross Books in 1978, he was always such a friendly and kind person, not least on the occasion that as a teenager, over-excited about having a bank account for the first time, I tested that good nature when miscalculating and bouncing a cheque on him.

He was a cheery constant in so many lives - certainly in mine during visits to Ross for decades after leaving home- offering a glass of something warming at Christmas, gossip of varying accuracy all year round or quoting from his beloved Guardian newspaper, all delivered with that fabulous twinkle in the eye.

And his longevity was astonishing: The Lysaghts thought they did pretty well with Ross Books lasting 30-something years, but Mervyn and his wonderful shop beat us by a distance.

All best wishes to the James family.

Cornelius Lysaght

Warwickshire