Boffins eat your hearts out: the world record holder for the number of university degrees is a cheery but truculent 70-year old Italian. Luciano Baietti lives in the town of Velletri in the Alban Hills near Rome and spends his days pottering around his small house and garden. But at every morning at 3am he pulls out his textbooks and starts studying.

He now holds 15 bachelors or masters degrees from universities across Italy, and is already embarking on his 16th. “Thanks to books, I feel free, dammit,” he tells AFP. “After all, the words share the same root,” he says, referring to the Italian words libro (book) and libero (free).