Remembering Peter May’s dry sense of humour when we were colleagues at Lloyd’s of London in the 1950s, I think he would have got a real kick from the Dale Minks inference that the “cast not a clout” phrase was attributed to Peter’s batting ability (Clout ’em out, Letters, May 24).

The old proverb “ne’er cast a clout till May be out” does, of course, go back to at least 1732, when it appeared in a publication by Dr Thomas Fuller, a collector of adages, and it was earlier referred to in John Stevens’ Spanish/English dictionary of 1706 who indicated that the phrase had Spanish origins. There is a thought by some researchers that the “May” reference is not the month of May, a view held by the majority, but rather the May blossom on the hawthorn.

Alan Coombe, Portisham Place, Strensall, York.