Cyber Romeo's e-mail goes global

Joseph Dobbie, of Berkshire, told Kate Winsall: "If I am twice as lucky as I dare to hope, you will find this note charming" and go out on a date.

Ms Winsall - whose smile he said made "time stand still" - sent it on to her sister, who forwarded it to friends.

Mr Dobbie, in his late 30s, has since received hundreds of e-mails and calls.

They included some from as far as Australia, the US and South Africa, and so many in fact, that he has had to change his land and mobile numbers.

"It got to the point where if I hung up either phone they would just ring again," he said.

In his letter to Ms Winsall, he apologised for his drunkenness at the party and invited her to meet him for coffee at the Tate Modern in London.

"I will call on it (the memory) when I am disheartened or low"
Joseph Dobbie's email

Mr Dobbie, who runs a web-design firm, told Ms Winsall he wanted to "throw caution to the wind" and said her smile was the "freshest of my special memories".

"Regardless of whether we see each other again, I will use it as I do my other special memories. I will call on it when I am disheartened or low," he wrote.

'Met this man'

In response, Ms Winsall sent the e-mail on to her sister, adding simply: "I met this man on Saturday."

Mr Dobbie said that he partly wrote the letter because he hoped to meet someone who appreciated that kind of 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 apologised that the letter was sent on and told him she had "been touched by it".

Mr Dobbie's message is the latest in a line of e-mails which have found their way on to a global stage.

Last year a lawyer quit his job when he became widely known for sending an e-mail to his secretary asking her to pay his cleaning bill after she spilt tomato ketchup on his trousers.