Argh, sorry, it’s been an even longer gap between posts. I’ll try not to do that again. Although I inevitably will. But I’ve been saving a good one!

Writing wise, I’ve been writing Entrapment (which is now at about 12,000 words) and begun some editing on Echoes, as well as entering the Globe Soup 7 Day Story Writing Challenge (wish me luck – I got High Fantasy as a genre!) So that’s all happening, and the best way to keep track of what I’m writing, and how much, is to follow me on Twitter (link at the top).

Anyway, there’s this TV clip that I occasionally search for on YouTube, It’s 30 years old and I’ve not seen it more than a couple of times since it was broadcast. But it’s seared into my memory. It’s embedded below – the relevant bit starts at 12m30ish, but the video is the entire The Crunch segment from The Big Breakfast, broadcast on Channel 4 on Jan 6th 1993 (The Banana Splits and Whose Washing Line Is It Anyway included). I’ve searched for it on and off over the years, and never found it. Until last week. Watch it, then I’ll tell you how it came about.

Yes, that’s me, delivering a Christmas themed rap (in January) with the most middle class flow imaginable, being judged as the best of three entries (one of which had no sound) by a young Chris Evans, Zig and Zag, plus Matt and Cody (the original one, not the recast) from Neighbours. Those CDs we won were low quality, mind you.

The Backstory: In December 1992, the aforementioned Chris Evans asked viewers to send in their Christmas raps. Inspired by this opportunity to appear on national television, my friend Paul and I wrote our effort at school that very day (we were in Year 11, nothing more important to be doing) – I feel like it was during an English lesson but I’m not certain that’s right. His dad filmed us over the weekend, edited it for us and we sent it in. We’d pretty much given up (given that it wasn’t Christmas any more) and then that was broadcast.

I’m pleased to have found it. I’m still quite proud of it, and it also means that everyone gets to see it. I’ve talked about it often and I wouldn’t be surprised if people were a little sceptical that it ever happened. It’s also freaked everyone out a little because of just how similar 16 year old me is to my eldest son who is currently of a similar age. Several people have actually thought it was him, although how he would have been on TV 14 years before his birth is the stuff of time travel fiction…

Speaking of which, these novels aren’t going to write themselves…