I have to confess, I’m not much of a linguist. My French doesn’t extend much further than three words (chien, voiture and maison) and my German, which I studied (without any great success) at school, has never been any better than passable.
I remember the first time a band name caught my ear, before I’d even heard the music. It was the Spice Girls.
Now hear me out, I know many readers will be judging such a statement, but I was an impressionable 10 year-old who was discovering the world of popular music....
When I was a boy, and I’m probably going to give my age away here, there were only two Welsh singers: Tom (big bloke, big nose, big voice, medallion) and Shirley (classy, sassy, like a cultured foghorn with perfect enunciation). Now Sir and Dame respectively. I was wro...