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I learnt to read when I was about 3. It was during WW2 and new books weren't much available, so I read whatever was available in my grandparents' house, where my mother and I were living while my father was away at war.
There were some old Children's Encyclopedias from 1907 and I happily ploughed through them for several years. The other books were for adults, mostly published in the 1920s and early 1930s. They weren't difficult to read, so I got stuck in.
School was hugely boring at first when I was surrounded by children just learning to read single words. I got the odd library book from a library van that travelled round the villages. And I read my mother's library books. I also read newspapers, although I can't say I understood the politics.
Fortunately, once the war was over we moved around a lot and I got access to more books and to some decent school libraries.
I suppose I'm lucky to be still around, given my adolescent habit of crossing roads with my eyes on a book.
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