The goggle box.
When I was about four, I was already addicted to the television, watching all manner of programs as a lot of kids do... I'd bully my mother into telling me what was on.

Eventually she said to me "If you want to know what's on telly, learn to read and then you'll be able to find out for yourself".

So yeah, the Radio Times changed my life, and led me into the wonderful world of books.

The other book that changed my life was by a french comedian/writer called Pierre Desproges, the book was "Dictionnaire superflu à l'usage de l'élite et des biens nantis", which doesn't exist in english and probably never will 'cos it's the sort humour which can't be translated... but I picked it up in my school in Toulouse's library and spent my subsequent lunch hour giggling and pleased to know that I wasn't alone in having a strange sense of humour, and made me want to read all of his books, which I did, and use the french language the way he did (which i sort of still do, albeit in a more crap way).
(Alaning, Sat 17 May 2008, 21:16, 2 replies)

It means Superfluous Dictionarry for the Elite and Well Born
Doesn't it?
( Mr. Jack cracked the elite b3ta inner circle on, Sat 17 May 2008, 22:47, closed)

yes
It does mean that, more or less, but i mean that his stuff is not translateable (?) from french into english without it just sounding odd, in the same way that a lot of english stuff sounds crap when translated into french. This is mostly true for comedy, and especially noticeable in tv comedies. I remember when they first started showing "Friends" over here, love the show or hate it, when dubbed into french, the dialogue made absolutely no sense whatsoever. And it's the same for most comedies... and it works the other way around too, Pierre Desproges can be translated into English word for word, but it just doesn't work as well.
(Alaning, Mon 19 May 2008, 11:48, closed)