What is a Fletter?
Michael Rosen the author and Arsenal fan noted a Fletter that appears in the Guardian (20th October). You can find it in the paper or free on-line.
I’ve been writing Fletters to the Guardian since the mid-1980s but what does the term mean?
It’s not mine. It was coined by my 6th Form English teacher Leonard Frizzell at Alexandra Park School Muswell Hill in the 1974/5 period. He also coined Pamflett and Leaflet. I was the custodian of the 6th form copy of the Guardian.
In those far off days the school was run by Communist Party teachers and most of the rest were from the Labour left. The chemistry teacher Mr Davies would spend his time praising the achievements of the Soviet Union while errant students set off chemical explosions in the background. Mr Jones the maths teacher went round opening windows during the 1972 miners strike in an act of solidarity.
Muswell Hill at that time had one of the largest Communist Party memberships in the country (my late father had been a member)..
The various Flett missives, Fletter, Pamflett and Leaflett were I think meant by Frizzell to mean concise and left-wing contributions to political debate. A bit like twitter now perhaps…
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