Scathing Reviews That Got The World Talking

The review of the Broadway Hotel in Blackpool is just the latest in a long line of reviews that have gone viral. Here are some of the most memorable.

The Plane Food That Really Took The Biscuit

:: Virgin passenger Oli Beal took his complaint straight to the company's boss Sir Richard Branson. Having flown from Mumbai to Heathrow in 2008, he wrote of his "culinary journey to Hell". Accompanied by photos of the food, Mr Beal wrote: "Look at this Richard. Just look at it."

He added: "I imagine the same questions are racing through your brilliant mind as were racing through mine on that fateful day. What is this? Why have I been given it? What have I done to deserve this? And, which one is the starter, which one is the dessert?"

Sir Richard later phoned the unhappy passenger, thanking him for his "constructive, if tongue-in-cheek" email, with his spokesman adding an apology that Mr Beal had not liked the meals, which he said was "award-winning food which is very popular on our Indian routes".

The Critic With Unique First-Hand Knowledge

:: Mackenzie Bezos reviewed her own husband's biography. He was the founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos - and she posted her review on the Amazon page where it was listed, just like any other customer.

In her take on the book, entitled The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon, by author Brad Stone, she wrote: "Everywhere I can fact check from personal knowledge, I find way too many inaccuracies, and unfortunately that casts doubt over every episode in the book."

Awarding the book a paltry one star, she added: "The book is also full of techniques which stretch the boundaries of non-fiction, and the result is a lopsided and misleading portrait of the people and culture at Amazon."

"If The Wine Is Too Expensive, Don't Order It"

:: Earlier this month the wife of a former ambassador in the US posted on TripAdvisor to criticise Canvas restaurant in Chelsea, saying it was expensive, "impersonal" and "pretentious". Catherine Meyer, 61, is the wife of Sir Christopher, who was British ambassador in Washington DC for six years.

She gave the restaurant two out of five stars, adding that the dining room was "cold and impersonal" and the service was "unsmiling to the point of robotic".

Chef Michael Riemenschneider said the other reviews for the restaurant's service were positive and that "If someone says the wine is expensive, then please don't order it, you have a choice"

"A Critic, Not A Cheerleader"

:: It was a newspaper review that divided public opinion in May when Irish mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught performed the role of Octavian in a Glyndebourne Opera production of Der Rosenkavalier. Reviews described her as a "chubby bundle of puppy-fat," "stocky," "dumpy of stature" and as possessing an "intractable physique".

The story prompted anger from many and even travelled across the Atlantic, where various figures wrote commentaries on the issue, but one of the critics, Rupert Christiansen, defended his review, insisting: "I am a critic, not a cheerleader".