About me

  • I was born in October 1978
    The sky was grey, brown leaves were falling off the trees and our green and pleasant land was heading towards the Winter of Discontent. The song at No. 1 aptly reflected these times – ‘Summer Nights’ by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Yes, it was a strange and curious time…
  • I grew up in a place called Streetly
    Streetly is a leafy working-class suburb of Sutton Coldfield, which is itself a suburb of Birmingham. The suburbs get a bit of a bad press at times, which I don’t really understand. Streetly was a cool place to grow up in. Not a lot happened there but that suited me just fine, and although I left there a fair few years ago, it’s still home to me.
  • I taught myself to read before I turned 3
    This is true. As a child, I loved the children’s show Words and Pictures. I used to avidly watch it while my Mom was cooking / cleaning / ironing in the kitchen. The mixture of songs from the legendary Derek Griffiths and the spelling instructions from his friend ‘the magic pencil’ made a big impression on me, and I started to read whatever I could get my little hands on. This abruptly stopped one day when, after reading the front page of the Evening Mail, I rushed in to the kitchen and asked, ‘What does FLASHER mean, Mommy?’ (The paper was quickly removed.) However, I moved on to books and a lifetime’s love of reading continued from that moment on.
  • Music is a massive part of my life
    More than any other art form, music has always had an evocative power on me. I can vividly remember my pre-school days when my Mom would be doing the housework to a soundtrack courtesy of Radio 2. I can remember the songs of that era so well – ‘Heartbreaker’ by Dionne Warwick; ‘I Won’t Let You Down’ by Ph.D; ‘My Guy’ by Mary Wells (strictly speaking a 60s song, but my Mom used to sing it to me). Having two older brothers helped as well. They watched Top of the Pops every week so, as a younger sibling, I would naturally join them. From that point, a dye was cast and music became a true soundtrack to my life. I was a disco baby, an 80s child, a Britpop teenager and everything in-between. My life has always been intertwined with music and always will be. My love of music can be proved by this show-stopping appearance on PopMaster on The Ken Bruce Show in April 2009.
  • Retro is the way to go
    Whether it be documentaries on BBC4, YouTube clips of 1970s football or the
    wonderful Sounds of the 20th Century series on Radio 2, I love wallowing in a bit of nostalgia. I have a huge interest in 1960s and 1970s popular culture, and I really enjoy watching shows and reading books about the subject. I think my interest in such retro matters started with The Rock ‘n’ Roll Years – a series which combined news clips and pop music from a particular year (from 1956 to 1980). I was only 7 when the series was shown, but it completely captured my imagination. I haven’t looked back since (is that the right phrase to use?!) and my blog – Cheese and Brown Sauce – reflects my love of all things nostalgic and retrospective.
  • ‘They’re by far the greatest team…’
    I have to confess that I have an addiction. It’s something that has blighted my life for many years, with the pain outdoing the pleasure time and time again. Yes, I am an Aston Villa fan. Being brought up in Streetly with a claret-and-blue-mad family, there was going to be no other team for me – and despite my occasional frustrations, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am currently writing a book based on my childhood as a supporter of the club. Its working title is Never Gonna Give You Up and you can find more information about it here.