hyperpolyglots, from New Scientist

From the Jan 8, 2005 issue of New Scientist:

How come some people can learn dozens of foreign languages when many of us struggle with just one? Michael Erard investigates

Revealing the talents of the language masters

THE news arrived as an unexpected email. "Sir," it began. "First, let me apologise for bothering you, but I saw an article you wrote and had to write." The writer, N, went on to describe how his grandfather, a Sicilian who had never gone to school, could learn languages with such remarkable ease that by the end of his life he could speak 70 of them, and read and write in 56.

Hampshire people can read the full-text here