IN 1937, my parents had a telephone installed in our house in Southampton. In the instruction book which came with it, people were advised to answer the telephone with either their name or the telephone number.

This has been my habit for all my life. While I was working, I always answered the telephone with the extension number followed by my name – ie 2781 Usherwood – and now I have retired I answer my phone by saying: “Mike Usherwood”.

It is therefore very annoying when, as has happened three times this morning, to answer the phone properly only to have somebody say: “Can I speak to Mr Usherwood, please?”

Mike Usherwood, Mendip Close, Huntington, York