Letter: The dating issue

Sir: Colville Crooks (Letters, 11 March) is most observant. In fact, all British daily newspapers founded before 1873 had an issue number coinciding with the year in their sixth year of publication; since then the hit has occurred in year seven. Can one score a double whammy? Indeed one can: had you, Sir, had the foresight to found your paper some 10 weeks earlier, you could have seen out the old year and rung in the new with numbers 1992 and 1993 respectively.

Yours sincerely,

NIGEL GREENWOOD

London, N22