Man's romantic e-mail goes worldwide

A man has said he has "no regrets" after a romantic e-mail he sent to a woman ended up circulating around the world.

Joseph Dobbie, who is in his late 30s and lives in Berkshire, told Kate Winsall in the e-mail: "If I am twice as lucky as I dare to hope, you will find this note charming."

After reading the letter, Ms Winsall forwarded the email to her sister, who then sent it on to her friends.

In the message, which contained five hundred and sixteen words, Mr Dobbie commented on how Ms Winsall's smile made "time stand still", going on to say this is the "freshest of my memories". He also said sorry for being drunk at the party the pair met, and he asked Ms Winsall out for a coffee at London's Tate Modern.

Due to the email, Mr Dobbie has received hundreds of e-mails and phone calls from people as far away as Australia, America, and South Africa. He has also revealed that he has changed his phone numbers as a result of the situation: "It got to the point where if I hung up either phone they would just ring again," he said.

Mr Dobbie, who runs a web-design company, has said he wrote the note in the hope of meeting someone who would be thankful for such an effort. "My mother uses an expression 'it's cool to be cruel these days' and I just don't want that in my life," he said.

He said Ms Winsall had been touched by the email, and she also apologised for its universal circulation. "I stood a chance with Kate. Now there’s no way she will say yes," Mr Dobbie said.