Sir – Once again, I have to write to you to mount an impassioned defence of Mr Gray in the face of his detractors. His superb wit as a columnist and his perceptive critiques of restaurants are beyond compare.

The residents of the city of Oxford do not seem to realise what an enormous boon they enjoy in having Mr Gray as your restaurant critic. Whilst Mr Gray and Rosemarie are admiringly chomping their way through fish and chips and chocolate cake at backwoods hostelries before being photographed with Mine Host, the fine restaurants in our city go unreviewed.

And we have some very fine restaurants — not least the ‘ethnic’ ones which never get a mention, presumably because chocolate cake is not amongst their priorities. In practical terms, this means that it is possible for citizens to get a table at such restaurants, even on busy Saturday nights.

As one reflectively savours pork hock cooked for six hours in a soya and black-bean sauce, one can only imagine the stampede for chocolate pudding and a glass of Chardonnay taking place at the gastro-pubs in the surrounding countryside.

So: long may Mr Gray prosper. And Rosemarie. And Olive.

Nigel Clarke, Oxford