About
It all began when, aged six, I handed an illegible piece of prose to my bemused primary school teacher detailing how my pet dog had run off in a ‘fud stom’ – or a thunder storm as my Mum eventually deciphered.
Over the years my spelling improved slightly – although not a lot.
Fast forward 12 years and I found myself in the Chippenham Technical College minibus with half a dozen journalism students, embarking on a winding journey to Hugh Grant and Liz Hurley’s country pile on the outskirts of Bath.
Notepads poised, we knocked on the door and requested an interview for the college newspaper. Weirdly enough Hugh and Liz turned us down flat.
Thankfully after this initial rejection - and a stint at two press agencies and a local newspaper - the allure of coverage in heat magazine and the Daily Mirror was to earn me a lot more scope for celebrity interviews later in my career – and some very odd outcomes too.
Before an interview with Honor Blackman I quickly dashed to the loo only to discover she was in the booth next to me absentmindedly singing the musical ditty ‘I’m Old Fashioned’ in her unmistakable husky voice.
Then when I hobbled along to grill Frank Skinner on crutches and asked what his plans were for the weekend, he left me blushing profusely after he quipped, “Just how bad is that leg?”
An interview with former Brookside actor Phillip (Tin’ead) Olivier for heat proved to be going almost as swimmingly.
Indeed, my detailed questioning on weighty issues (such as “Do you like the lights on or off?”) were met with a critical acclaim – not least from a nun from my Catholic primary school who bumped into my mother a few weeks later and announced she’d seen it.
Not to be dissuaded from embarrassing my family, I went on to pen my first book Why Am I Always The One Before ‘The One?’ which detailed the horrifying truth about the ridiculous and deranged behaviour myself and friends had displayed during our quest to find Mr Right.
My mother bravely volunteered to ‘taste test’ my second book It’s Not Me, It’s You which is all about the highs and lows of break-ups.
Thankfully it turns out she’s a very open-minded pensioner…
Want to know more? Here are some recent book promo interviews I’ve done:
