With reference to Jerry Pearlman’s letter of 8 March, the lady who first taught me German, on learning that I was a ‘rechtsanwalt’, insisted on calling me ‘Herr Doktor’ because she said that was how all lawyers are addressed in Germany and, as viewers of Inspector Montalbano will know, it is customary in Italy (especially in the south) to use ‘dottore’ as an honorific to address individuals of status, irrespective of academic achievement.

Ian Kinloch, Wrexham