Mea Culpa: on the naming of knights and dames

Questions of style and language in last week’s Independent, discussed by John Rentoul

Jules of history: the trophy was replaced for the 1974 World Cup (PA)

A bit of a slip-up on the knighthood front the other day, as we referred to Sir Robbie Gibb, a director of the BBC, and then called him Sir Gibb for the rest of the report. Thanks to the readers who pointed this one out.

It can feel a bit odd to put “Sir” in front of a diminutive such as Robbie – as when we call the Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey – so the rule that, after the first mention, knights and dames are referred to as Sir or Dame [first name] may have become scrambled.

Airborne castle: In a report of tourists killed by a lightning strike on Amer Fort in Jaipur, India, we said: “Some are suspected to have fallen into the ravine from the watchtower, which is at least 500m from the ground.” Roger Thetford pointed out that not only does this make it sound as if the fort was floating in mid-air, but half a kilometre would be a spectacular drop.