By high temperature series expansion, exact diagonalisation and temperature density-matrix renormalisation the magnetic susceptibility χ(T) and the specific heat C(T) of dimerised and frustrated S=1/2 chains are computed. All three methods yield reliable results, in particular for not too small temperatures or not too small gaps. The series expansion results are provided in the form of polynomials allowing very fast and convenient fits in data analysis using algebraic programmes. We discuss the

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... difficulty to extract more than two coupling constants from the temperature dependence of χ(T).