Veteran actress DAME Helen Mirren was desperate to learn French as a young girl - because she longed to snare a Parisian boyfriend.
The Queen star grew up in Southend-on-Sea, England, a seaside town where there was a regular influx of students from France who travelled to the U.K. to study.
And she admits she spent hours brushing up on her language skills - so she could charm one of the pupils.
Dame Helen tells U.K. talk show host Graham Norton, "There was always this coterie of French students who'd come to learn English and I was a complete francofile. I thought everything French was so cool and smart and elegant. I was desperate to get a French boyfriend and I did - Jean-Louis."
And the Brit reveals she's actually still in touch with her teenage boyfriend, adding: "Thanks to the internet, brilliantly, the brilliant, wonderful internet, very recently, I thought, 'I wonder where Jean-Louis is. I'll never find him.'
"I googled him, bang! He came up immediately. I sent him an email and within 24 hours, I was back in touch with him. It was amazing! This was like 40 years later. (Jean-Louis) wasn't saucy, he was very, very well-behaved and Catholic."