Andrew Lloyd Webber hardly needs me to stick up for him, but in the interests of fairness it is only right to challenge the oft-heard claim that Love Never Dies got a mauling from the critics. On the contrary, the writers that matter almost all gave a thumbs up. The Guardian’s Michael Billington awarded it three stars, the Daily Telegraph’s Charles Spencer four. The Independent’s Paul Taylor honoured the show with a top-rated five stars, as did Michael Coveney of the website What’s on Stage.

Benedict Nightingale, of The Times, was the only one of what we used to call the daily broadsheet critics to receive the musical coolly. He awarded only two stars, complaining of a “dismally implausible plot” and the show’s lack of menace, horror and psychological darkness.

Blessed as he is with a fine sense of humour, Benedict will, I think, have found something to smile about in his having been the only critic quoted in a full-page advertisement for Love Never Dies that appeared on Saturday in the Telegraph. He describes the show as “the theatrical event of the year”. This phrase appears nowhere in his review and must, I think, have been culled from a preview piece. It is rather naughty of the Lloyd Webber organisation to misrepresent his views in this way. But I rather admire the chutzpah.

I felt the same about a sign put up this month outside The Royal Oak, in Ramsden. A reader sent me a picture (see below). A Chris Gray is quoted as saying: “I must commend the landlord on his shepherd’s pie, his ’95 Margaux and his rapier wit.” I say ‘a Chris Gray’ because this one is not me. I haven’t eaten at The Royal Oak for about 20 years – or rather I should say ‘hadn’t’. I went there for lunch on Sunday and it was great (though I didn’t run to Margaux). I will be reviewing it in Weekend next week. The ruse (if ruse it was) worked.