English was chosen as a default language the only one that might be understood by 14-year-olds from Reykjavik

English was chosen as a default language, the only one that might be understood by 14-year-olds from Reykjavik to Rimini.Apart from Jacques Delors's office, it is hard to imagine anywhere where the ideal of European unity is pushed so hard as at MTV Europe, which, so they say, transcends national boundaries by communicating through the international language of music There are 19 nationalities on the staff of 370. Each channel is designed to reflect its audience, so MTV Europe, which opened in 1987, was created in the perceived image of continental youth: techno-friendly, mobile, pop and film-crazy, environmentally aware pro-Europeans. The container is the same but the contents are different - though given the global predominance of American music, in Europe it accounts for 30- 40 per cent of videos shown. Add those to MTV Japan, Latino (Latin America) and Brasil, and MTV Music Television is received by 143.5 million households. Only the BBC and CNN, both with smaller reaches, rival it for brand recognition."We are in a quarter of the world's TV households," says Bill Roedy, president of MTV Networks International, "but the even better thing is we have three-quarters of the world to go." On his "to do" list are channels for South Africa, Australia, Canada, Russia and the Middle East.Unlike McDonald's or Coca-Cola, whose products trade on being identical worldwide, MTV has one brand with regionally adjusted and produced material.

Viacom, the global media giant that owns the station, recently launched MTV Mandarin to homes in China, Taiwan and Singapore, and MTV Asia to India, Indonesia, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Make that 38, as Lebanon came on stream a couple of weeks ago.The channel reaches 61 million homes in Europe, more than the original MTV in the United States. You can drop me anywhere in the world, especially anywhere in Europe, and I feel at home." This is said without a trace of irony, but there's not much call for irony at MTV towers in Camden Town, London.Anywhere Simone lands on her busy schedule she can watch MTV Europe. Its non-stop diet of music videos, or canned music with pictures if you prefer, spiced with movie news and the animated freaks Beavis and Butthead, is pumped out by cable or satellite to homes, bars, clubs, gymnasiums and hotels in 37 countries. ." Simone Angel became an MTV presenter four years ago after moving to London from her native Netherlands when 18. A bouncy bottle blonde with the kind of hyperactive features that have you reaching for the remote control, she speaks excellent English to Enrico's very good, though her accent can shift confusingly from Amsterdam to east London to Liverpool at the drop of a diphthong.Not surprisingly, Simone reveals: "I don't feel Dutch I don't feel English I don't know what I feel, it's odd I hang between borders. "I look at the stamps to see where they come from, it's such a cool thing.

"Because I'm foreign to the audience and they're foreign to me we learn from eechudder." Enrico has learnt that he is craved by pubescent females all over the continent. Greased back into a pony tail and dyed deep red, it is a touch too grungey, though complemented appropriately by a nose ring, earring, goatee and indiscernible tattoo on the right bicep Enrico has been at MTV Europe for nine months "It's a cool job," he purrs in a heavy Italian accent. I was a bottle boy for an off-licence and I would slip bottles under the back fence of the shop By the time I was 13 I had a drink problem. I played truant to go drinking in the woods, crying most of the time.HARRY HILL, comedian: Never I'm still waiting for a special occasion.. ENRICO SILVESTRIN, 23, MTV presenter and Euro-hunk, doesn't have the sort of hairstyle you might expect from a man whose surname sounds like a mass-market shampoo.

I swigged the altar wine when no one was looking.KEVIN SMITH GALLER, of the Alcohol Recovery Project: I was eight when I had my first drink. It was a moment of conversion.PENNY VINCENZI, novelist: I was 16 and my father thought I was old enough to have my first drink - a Gin and It. It was marvellous.BRENDAN RYAN, marketing manager and ex-altar boy: I had my first drink when I was seven in the sacristy of my local church. In the evening we found a way out, went to a pub and got drunk. We couldn't find the way back in and a nun in a nightdress or maybe her habit let us in I haven't been on a retreat since or become a Christian.