Some emails are not set to stay private for long. The conversation between a bride-to-be and future mother-in-law shows how just a few clicks can lead to an email hitting the headlines.

Meeting the in-laws is hard at the best of times, but 29-year-old Heidi Whithers made a lasting impression on her fiancé's step-mother Carolyn Bourne, who felt it was high time someone explained to her about good manners. The withering email from Carolyn catalogued Heidi’s failings including sleeping in late, her fussiness with food and her plans to get married in a castle being “brash, celebrity-style behaviour.”

The shocked Heidi sent the email to a few friends and they sent it on and on until it arrived in the inbox of thousands and spread like wildfire across the internet. The wedding (if it still goes ahead), might have been tricky but is now set to be totally excruciating.

Next time you feel like having a rant on email, before you click send, remind yourself of the other viral email sensations that have changed the lives of those concerned.

2011: Beejoli Shah

The latest viral sensation to hit the headlines is an email from a woman Beejoli Shah, who wanted to share ‘the most insane experience of my life’ with just 15 of her friends. Her claims of having her toes sucked by Quentin Tarantino have gone viral. She says it’s ‘probably the best story I will ever get to tell’ - surely an understatement.

2010: Harry Fildes

Who could forget the unsavoury email that surveyor Harry Fildes sent in 2010 to a close friend giving him permission to “feel free to pursue her… she’s hot” with his former girlfriend. He intended the email only for his friend’s eyes, but in a Freudian slip, accidently cc-ed his ex into the mail.

2010: Karen Owen

An American university student became an online star after her PowerPoint presentation titled “An education beyond the classroom: excelling in the realm of horizontal academics” was leaked online. Her rants about her booze-fuelled, sexual conquests with men, mostly male athletes of the university lacrosse team unfortunately went viral.

2009: Holly Leam-Taylor

Holly, a graduate trainee at city consultants Deloitte, had to quit her job after emails sent to friends rating the attractiveness of her male counterparts in the office went viral. She listed nine categories including, 'boy most likely to sleep his way to the top' and 'most attractive older member of staff.'

Have you ever found yourself accidentally forwarding or desperately recalling an email? Share your stories in the comments box below.

Viral email humiliations