HIGHLIGHTS - From Telomerization to Living Radical Polymerization - A brief description of the various methods of telomerization by the radical and redox methods is given. Chain lengths and functionality are deeply related to kinetics laws, permitting a good control of oligomer architecture. The introduction of end groups enables, for the first time, the chemical functionalization of oligomers. More recently, these groups (thiuram, xanthogen halogens complexed by various metals, iodine, diphenylmethane, etc.) have been used to reinitiate polymerization, leading to real living polymerization/