Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from "Mike Lyle" contains
these
words:

I'm not sure about the lime, though. I don't think lawns want it
on
any but insanely acid soils. And, in my experience, there are some
mosses which will thrive on lime, though it discourages most
kinds:
of course, I don't know which kind you've got.

When I was an anklebiter we moved into a house in Hornchurch, which
is
on mildly alkaline soil, and the lawn had been a tennis court
before
the war. The court markings were still delineated in lush green,
even
when
the rest of the grass was a 'orrid ochre colour. Even assuming the
last time it was lined-out was in 1939, and we moved in in 1950,
that
points
to the influence of whiting (ground chalk) in the soil lasting more
than ten years.

Sounds conclusive! Books are in boxes, so I can't trace the source of
my conviction, which feels quite deep-seated. I did a perfunctory
Ggl, and found a degree, albeit very modest, of support from my first
hit,
http://www.gardenadvice.co.uk/howto/lawns/lawn_weeds/

which says:
Soil pH control - control of soil pH can help to control weeds. This
is because most lawn weeds grow best at a pH around 6.5 and the finer
lawn grasses grow best at a slightly lower, more acid pH at around pH
6. The lower pH normally accrues in the course of normal feeding with
high nitrogen feeds.

So, as often in gardening, all are correct, and all shall have
prizes: it clearly depends on the soil in any given case.

(Vaguely on-topic: Did you see all the fairy rings at St Andrews? I'm
glad they hadn't tried to get rid of them from an otherwise
horticulturally tedious golf-course.)

--
Mike.