I think my Mum picked up a giant carrier bag of these incredibly exciting books at a car boot sale when I was about four or five; I'd read the whole lot within a couple of days. I wasn't a particularly gifted kid, I just had a family who took the time to read to me from a very early age, and who encouraged me to learn how these 'word' things worked.

From then onwards, books became my favourite way to escape. I'd read absolutely *anything* I could get my hands on, from newspapers to encyclopaedias and back again.

Nothing much has changed. I'm even getting fond of reading books on the eye-watering screen of my iPhone in quiet moments at work.