Sir – Paul Hornby asks why the question “do you live in Abingdon?” is sometimes posed when a door is left open in Oxford (Letters, March 18). I cannot enlighten him as to the origin of the phrase.

But, having been brought up in Abingdon, I feel I am able to rule out his suggestion that there may have been a shortage of doors in the town. We never wanted for doors in our house. Or windows, for that matter. Interestingly, if somebody left a door open when I was growing up, he or she could be asked: “Were you born in Radley?”. And there isn’t even a maternity unit in the village.

R Tilley, Witney