8 NOVEMBER 2008, Page 29

On Mumbai and martinis

Sir: Christopher Booker is right (Letters, 1 November) — inhabitants of Bombay who refer to their city as ‘Mumbai’ are spoken of by the teeming majority who don’t as ‘Mumbaikers’ in tones halfway between sympathy and contempt.

On another subject in the same issue, Sinclair McKay understandably focuses on the Bond connection for his analysis of a good dry martini. But Luis Bufluel surely had it right: ‘Connoisseurs who like their martinis very dry suggest simply allowing a ray of sunlight to shine through a bottle of Noilly Prat before it hits the bottle of gin.’ I believe Dali’s ‘Last Supper’ illustrates his point.

Mark Revelle

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