The 12th Count Smorltork (the spelling was changed by deed poll to Smorltalk after the 16th Count Smorltork moved to the UK in the1940s) may be familiar to those of a literary bent, as he appears briefly in Dickens’s Pickwick Papers. Count Smorltork is described as “The famous foreigner – gathering materials for his great work on England.” The 18th Count Smorltalk has followed in the footsteps of his illustrious forebear and has travelled far and wide in Europe to gather materials for his own great work, currently published in the form of a column on the InterpreterSoapbox blog. The 12th Count Smorltork’s observations were recorded in a “Large book … – full of notes – music, picture, science, potry, poltic; all tings” (sic) – which sounds just like a description of the InterpreterSoapbox. The 12th Count is described in the novel as a “wonderful man”, “sound philosopher” and a “clear-headed, strong-minded person”. “Very!” The 18th Count hopes that such epithets may one day garnish his own reputation in the talking shops of Europe.