Were it not for a former Carmel College teacher, the late Shimon Peres would have shared one thing in common with Peter Sellers's Inspector Clouseau: mispronouncing the word bomb.

Rabbi Mordechai Berkovitz, originally from Sunderland (right), was Carmel's director of Jewish studies until he made aliyah in 1991 and became a teacher of English at the Knesset.

Though he never formally taught the Nobel Peace laureate, he recalls meeting him "in the corridor and he would always be very friendly. One time, I said to him 'you speak English very well, but when you say bomb you always say bomba – try it without pronouncing the second b.'"

"Thank you very much," Mr Peres replied and ditched the extraneous syllable.