Animation Oscar

Bob Godfrey is not “Britain’s first Oscar-winning animator” (Obituary, 25 February), as he was preceded in that honour by Norman McLaren, who was born in Stirling in 1914 and later studied at Glasgow School of Art, before cutting his professional teeth at John Grierson’s General Post
Office film unit. He won an Oscar for his pixellated animation Neighbours in 1952, while working for the National Film Board of Canada. On receiving news of the award, he wrote: “But who is Oscar?” If only modern acceptance speeches were so modest!

David McKirdy

Mansfield Woodhouse

Nottinghamshire