Several readers were fascinated by our article on Christmas Eve about a former Sussex cricketer and his romance with an actress.

But they wrote in to question some of the details.

The actress was Barbara Whatley and the cricketer Rupert Webb or, as we called him, Rupert Whatley, whom we said had been "internationally successful".

Roy J Banks, of Brighton, a cricket follower for 50 years, says he couldn't remember a Rupert Whatley playing for Sussex but there was a Rupert Webb and could he be one and the same?

Similarly, Peter Perkins, of Haywards Heath, says he can find no record of the player representing England and asks at what point did he change his surname?

By now, you will have guessed he was one and the same and the error was our reporter's fault in assuming that because he and Barbara were married they had the same surname. In fact, she has kept her maiden name.

As to "internationally successful", this was misleading, although our reporter says she chose this phrase rather than "played internationally" because, while Rupert didn't actually ever play for England, he was one of the then most successful wicket keepers.

How successful is revealed by another reader, Tommy Carr, from Hove, who says Rupert played 225 matches for Sussex between 1948 and 1960 according to Hamlyn's Who's Who of Cricketers.

He batted 333 times, scoring 2,685 runs and was not out 104 times. His highest score was 49 not out. As wicket keeper, he took 325 catches and made 129 stumpings.

In 1955, he made the season's highest number of dismissals - 65, with 41 catches and 24 stumpings - and in a match against Somerset at Hove in 1960 he took eight catches.

He also played alongside some illustrious names, including David Sheppard, Ted Dexter and Robin Marlar.

I am also grateful to Caroline Bates, of Burgess Hill, for informing us that Rupert had divorced his previous wife, Gabrielle, in the 1970s and that she had died in the mid-1990s.

Mrs Bates, who is Rupert's goddaughter and whose father and mother had both been friends with Gabrielle, says she found the article "schmaltzy" and it had caused distress and anger to those who knew Gabrielle. For that, I am deeply sorry and can assure everyone that that was not our intention.

And the final note on this subject, the letter in Saturday's paper apparently correcting Rupert's career record was badly wrong.

He did not play in the Gillette Cup because it did not start until 1963 (when Jack Hobbs would have been 77) and Don Bradman retired in 1949 and did not play in the Lord's test.

Mind you, several readers noticed the letter was bogus, with the writer signing him/herself Hugh Jarce (think about it). Very funny, I'm sure.

Thanks to Toby Young, of Brighton, T J Smith, of Rottingdean, Mr D R Hollamby, of St Leonards, Bill Woodford, of Horsham, and Barry Humphrey, of Hove.

Brighton and Hove City Council leader Ken Bodfish noticed an anonymous letter writer on December 19 said, "Councillor Richardson is hard-hearted and typical of the council".

"As we don't have a Councillor Richardson, readers will make up their own minds as to how typical he/she is of the council," says Councillor Bodfish.

"The notion we are hard-hearted is a similar fiction. Apart from that, the letter was very informative!"

Thank-you, councillor, and I can tell you the letter was corrected for later editions.

Our report this week about a pay rise for Brighton and Hove bus drivers wrongly stated it would mean a typical driver working an optional sixth day's overtime would take home £350 a week.

In fact this was gross pay, not net. Apologies, especially to those busmen and their partners who rang to correct us.

Finally, Fred Spicer's appeal in the Where Are They Know? column in Saturday's Weekend for old Varndeanians to contact him, had the wrong telephone number.

Fred can be contacted at 123 Eldred Avenue, Westdene, Brighton BN1 5EL, Tel. 01273 552854.