DAVID J Crawford's history of the hat and his reference to his own "ginormous heid" (Letters, December 13) brought back long-buried memories of buying my first jumbo Scout hat (no it wasn't for elephants, Thelma). I made my way to the Scout Shop in Elmbank Street and requested a hat. The very helpful assistant looked at the 12-year-old customer and took down a hat and handed it to me. The words pea and drum sprang immediately to mind. After several attempts and increased expressions of disbelief the assistant finally found a hat that fitted my head, though admittedly he has to brush copious amounts of dust from it before I tried it on.

There is however a positive to my physical abnormality inasmuch as I regularly find hats in sales which the retailer has given up hope of ever selling – but don't get me started on one-size-fits-all hats.

David Stubley,

22 Templeton Crescent, Prestwick.