Children have always looked up to celebrities and I hope they always will. Adults have no right to deny children their dreams or to disillusion them with bitchy comments about “airbrushing” or “cellulite”.
The people quoted in your article (“Hunt for heroes”, July 10, TES Magazine) have either forgotten what it’s like to be young or never knew.
Who were their idols as teenagers? My role model was the late, great Errol Flynn. As his eldest daughter said: “He actually did what he bloody well wanted to do.”
At the age of 50, I advise the young, work out what you want to do and go for it. Never stop hoping, never stop dreaming. And “don’t pretend to be what you don’t want to be”.
Mark Taha, London.
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