Helen Oldfield writes: Editing Peter Lennon (obituary, 21 March) on the Guardian arts desk and Weekend magazine was a complete pleasure. He was mischievous, stubborn, principled and, above all, fun. In 2001, Peter wrote an analysis of a new Henri Cartier-Bresson collection as a Weekend cover story. He detected a little-remarked thread in Cartier-Bresson's work – of landscapes, line and form that came close to abstractions. Cartier-Bresson was pleased and wrote to thank Peter cordially for his "remarquable text".
Some years later Peter went to Paris to interview another Magnum photographer – this one much younger, who specialised in grand, not to say grandiose, panoramic scenes, and who had recently changed his self-description from the workaday "photojournalist" to "artist". The great enjoyment in Peter's accompanying article is the dawning horror and disbelief as the photographer realises that this seemingly charming, silver-haired Irishman is taking the mickey out of him. He wanted his pictures withdrawn from the magazine if Peter's interview were to appear. Naturally there was no question of Peter changing a word. The picture editor tried unavailingly to persuade the photographer that it was an honour to be mocked by the famous Peter Lennon. Finally, somehow, text and pictures appeared.