The letter dated January 2012 in my online Mature Times from Cynthia Plewman of Cranleigh prompted me to write, She spoke of buying a ski suit in a charity shop which is invaluable in this cold weather we are currently experiencing.

A subject dear to my heart that has prompted me to write to numerous, (hopefully influential,) journals in an effort to get something done about the demise of that item of clothing, the humble hat, or any form of warm headgear for that matter, be it flat cap, trilby, blower, panama hat, bobble hat etc. this would apply equally to both male and females.

Whenever I see some of those old monochrome newsreels from the 1920s-30s and even 1950s on TV showing large crowd gatherings, hardly a head is without a hat of some description. Whatever happened to our hat industry and what caused the demise of the hat?

If we could only get the population again wearing this most sensible item of clothing, think what it could do for our present appalling unemployment figures. Luton for example once employed many thousands of people in the hat making industry.

Most people I encounter on a dally basis, certainly during this current freezing cold spell, of the age say over 50, seem to have the good sense to cover their heads.

My dear late mother always told me that we lose three fifths of our body heat through the top of the head. I am sure this is true as if I wear a hat I invariably feel my whole body is beautifully warm. In my 80s I wouldn't dream of going out in winter without some form of headgear.

I shudder with cold when watching TV and outside broadcast presenters are seen standing out in all weathers, hail, snow or rain, and not wearing any form of head cover. 

This evening for example on 'Look East' on BBC TV, one reporter stood by a river reporting as snow fell quite heavily but he was without headgear and looked frozen as he rubbed his hands vigorously!

Added to my astonishment is the modern phenomenon in men's fashion to have their heads completely shaven, thus taking away what little hair they may have had left and looking like escapees from some concentration camp. You can almost see heatwaves escaping from the tops of their heads!
 

Walter J. Bourne, Milton Keynes
by email