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Jon May is stumped by a reference to a farthing (Letters, THES, August 22).

Authoritative deliberations over the chicken marengo in a St Catherine's SCR Small Dining Room concluded that a farthing was neither appreciably smaller than a sixpence nor bigger than a ha'penny. Pretty close in size to what passes for a bob these days.

Peg Katritzky (age 40-something)
Open University and St Catherine's College, Oxford