Q: IS THERE an official way to spell out letters on the phone in France, like the Nato phonetic alphabet - Yankee, Hotel, Foxtrot etc? J.W.

FRANCE recognises the Nato phonetic alphabet (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie etc) for air traffic and in the emergency services, however it also has a homegrown version, known as the alphabet téléphonique (or radio) français.

The French list - suggested for use when clarifying spelling - is almost entirely first names (though Kléber is also a surname), apart from the curious choice of “Quintal” (a measure of weight) for “Q"”- Anatole, Berthe, Célestine, Désiré, Eugène, François, Gaston, Henri, Irma, Joseph, Kléber, Louis, Marcel, Nicolas, Oscar, Pierre, Quintal, Raoul, Suzanne, Thérèse, Ursule, Victor, William, Xavier, Yvonne, Zoé.