Am I Missing Something.: Unpublished Letters from the Daily Telegraph (Telegraph Books)

A letters page may seem antiquated in an era of texting and tweeting, yet the Telegraph's letter writers – often bemused, sometimes furious, always erudite – are a breed apart. Here are their wise, waggish and unpublished opinions on everything from gay marriage ('Sir – Gays should be able to marry so they can suffer like the rest of us') to royal babies ('Sir – Maybe the hospital could release pink or blue smoke when the baby is born').

IAIN HOLLINGSHEAD spent two years on the Letters to the Editor desk before becoming a full-time feature writer for The Daily Telegraph. His more serious assignments have included reporting on the student riots in London and interviewing everyone from Michael Atherton to Gurkha veterans to a member of Seal Team Six, the elite unit which killed Osama bin Laden. His less serious assignments have included taking a bath in Las Vegas with six albino rabbits, spending three days behind the scenes at the Miss England competition, camping outside Westminster Abbey for the Royal Wedding, eating in five Michelin starred restaurants in one day, learning to flirt in Pizza Express, learning to Dance in Mamma Mia!, performing stand-up comedy to 300 eight-year-olds, training with the Royal Marines, climbing into a Spitfire and experiencing a Brighton nudist beach first hand. He now writes freelance for the paper. He has edited four bestselling collections of unpublished letters from the Daily Telegraph for Aurum.