When I was younger and living at home full time my father used to bring me to a second hand book shop at the weekends. Most of the books on the shelves were far too advanced for me, but there was a tiny section in the shop that I went to every-time. The biographies of famous or influential (mostly dead) people seemed so interesting to me. One of the first ones I read was about Montgomery Clift (gay guy from Here to Eternity.... as famous as Wayne, not as tall, the height of Sinatra but not as famous).

So I started collecting them, I have no theme, no idea who I would actually be interested in reading until I see what is available. That probably makes me the most flexible shopper.

The last time I went home my father wasn't feeling well enough for the adventure. So I decided to drive there myself. I spent about ten minutes convincing myself that I didn't need another Mandella biography and I most certainly would never read Victoria Beckhams "masterpiece" (a term one uses very loosely, like please and thank you). Then I found a really tattered and yellowed book, with the front page ripped off. The cover page of the book had the title "Joan of Arc- Jeanne D'arc". It was €2.50. How bad.

I started reading it last night. The most obvious thing at the moment is- she was worth more than €2.50....