Life

‘One of the greatest letters ever written’

John Plunkett. Updated November 18th, 2021

This fabulous thank you letter has just gone viral and it’s well worth a few moments of your time.

It was shared by Brendan May – @bmay on Twitter – who said it’s ‘one of the greatest letters ever written’.

And they’re not wrong, you know.

And just in case that’s tricky to read …

Dear Mr Walker,

I want to thank you for the lovely transistor radio you and your district so kindly sent me for my birthday. It is all the more wonderful that an absolute stranger like yourself remembers old people like me. I am 97 years of age and have been at the home for the last 26 years. We are treated very kindly but the lonely hours are very hard to bear.

My room mate, Mrs. James, has a radio but will never let me listen to it and often switches it off when I come into the room. Now I have one of my very own.

My grandsons and grandaughters are very nice and come to see me once a month but I know that they only come along from a sense of duty. This is why your gift is all the more wonderful and thrilling to me as it was given out of compassion for a fellow human being. God bless you all.

Today, Mrs. James’ radio went wrong and she asked me if she could listen to mine. I told her to fuck off.

Yours sincerely,

Mary Grant

As you might already be aware, it’s not exactly the first time it’s gone viral.

In fact, the good people of fact-choking service Snopes found something similar as far back as 1967 (which makes that 1982 date on the letter above a tiny bit problematic).

Still, it did make us laugh and hopefully you did too. Here are just a few of the responses it prompted this time round.

Last word to @bmay.

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Source Twitter @bmay