Headline acts

I enjoyed comparing two vice-chancellors’ summer reading material in “What are you reading?” (Books, 5 September). Both reached out to music: Russell Grouper David Eastwood was drawn to Brahms’ symphonies in full score and the “remarkable passacaglia that ends the fourth” (who could disagree?), while former 94 Groupie David Bell reminded us that “Roxy Music were ‘cool’ epitomised” (indeed!). As a jobbing dean, I enjoyed Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places, which I bought expecting (from the title) to read about the pressures on British universities, but which turned out to be a terrific thriller; sadly, no passacaglia though.

Tony Gatrell
Lancaster