Your obituary of Kevin Keegan (20 July) refers to his move to Hamburg and his newly permed hairstyle, which set a trend in football. Unusually, he resolved to use his time there to learn German to communicate better with his teammates. He was repaid many times by another trend: German boys being given the name Kevin.
Our British-German school exchanges in the 1990s always had at least one boy called Kevin. They were very proud of their name, as I imagine they are today, when they read about the positive contribution made by Keegan. And, like Arthur Fery, at 5ft 8in he was of “diminutive stature” (Letters, 12 July).
Jennifer Basannavar
Twickenham, London
• I remember Kevin Keegan coming to the Shewsy youth club in Everton in inner-city Liverpool in the late 1970s. They say you know a famous person by what they are like away from the limelight. He was a player just back from winning two Ballon d’Ors at Hamburg, and he didn’t want any publicity. In fact, he insisted on no publicity.
He stayed for two hours, played table tennis and football with the young people, and then sat on a chair and answered loads of questions with honesty, humour and wise advice. He just wanted to encourage and help young people in an inner-city area. Big respect.
Rev Henry Corbett
Liverpool
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