SADLY, I did not know Alec Cottrell, whose death you reported last week.

I have no doubt that, as you say, he was a flamboyant, eccentric and much-loved Fulham resident who was born and lived his entire life in the borough.

But the title Mr Fulham surely belongs to the late Percy Barton. Percy served the borough as councillor and alderman from 1934 to 1978, was Mayor of Fulham in 1942-43 and chair of its housing committee for 21 years.

He was known during his lifetime as Mr Fulham, and two buildings are named after him; the Dawes Road headquarters of the Dr Edwards and Bishop King's Fulham Charity, of which he was a trustee and honorary secretary for many years, and a block of flats near Wandsworth Bridge.

CHRIS BIRCH Blake Gardens

Fulham