Who was Old King Cole and how did he get his reputation for being merry?

• HE IS a fusion of several elements. The first is that of Coel, Duke of Colchester, who is said to have usurped the British throne from Asclepiodotus in the late third century AD. He was said to have either lent his name to Colchester or to have founded it. His daughter, Helena, married his successor to the throne, Constantius, the union producing a son in the form of Constantine the Great. The second candidate is a King Coil of Ayrshire, who allegedly ruled in the fourth century and whose name is remembered in such place names as Kyle and Coylton. Thirdly there are the 'Sons of Coel', as the British leaders of Cumbria called themselves in the sixth and seventh centuries, the most famous being Urien and Owain, who later found their way into Arthurian legend. This Coel is reckoned to have flourished in the fifth century and to have ruled the Roman frontier zone at the time the legions finally left Britain. Lastly there is Thomas Cole of Reading, a rich twelfth century cloth merchant who was disposed of for his money by the murderous landlord and his wife of the Ostrich Inn at Colnbrook, Buckinghamshire. Even though he was called 'Old Cole', in no way was he a king. Large parts of the early accounts are fanciful and none explains why King Cole was so merry. A detailed investigation into the legend can be found in Charles Knightley's Folk Heroes of Britain (Thames & Hudson, 1982).

  Eric L. Fitch, Burnham, Bucks.

• THERE is a French song: 'Il y avait un roi je ne sais ou / Qu'on nommait le vieux roi Chou / Passez-moi, disait-il, ma pipette et mon vin! / Violons, jouex-moi quelque refrain . . .' Chou means 'cabbage'. So does kohl, kale, cauli(flower), etc. Could King Cole be 'Le vieux roi Chou'?

  Alan Carlton Smith, Cambridge.