biography

I was born in Leicester in 1969, in the Bond Street hospital. It’s somewhere under the foundations of the new Highcross Shopping Centre now. I’ve lived in or near to Leicester for most of my life.

When I was at school, work generally took second place to sport and music. I played football for my school and various different clubs and ran middle distance and cross-country. When I wasn’t playing sport, I was a drummer in a band. We churned out terrible instrumental versions of Police and Spandau Ballet songs. Those were the days…

As a teenager I spent a lot of my time playing Chuckie Egg and Fortress on my BBC computer, watching old horror films, reading Stephen King and James Herbert, and filling exercise books with half-baked horror ‘novels’ of my own.

I did my O and A Levels at Countesthorpe College, then went to Birmingham University for three years. I had a great time in Birmingham, with perhaps a bit too much emphasis on sitting in pubs and bookies’, but I eventually knuckled down enough to scrape a 2:2 in Medieval And Modern History.

After spending some time doing voluntary work at a local school, I trained to be a teacher, doing a PGCE in Primary Education at Leicester University. As well as teaching for a few years, I’ve worked in a factory making fridges, in marketing, as a gardener and as a market trader.

I now live in the West End of Leicester with my wife, our two daughters, and a variety of pets. In my spare time I like reading, watching old horror films (still) and listening to music. I harbour unfulfilled musical ambitions, but I’m no nearer to mastering the trumpet and the electric guitar than I was when I bought them. I still enjoy sport, particularly football and boxing, but I’m more of an armchair participant these days.

Supporting Leicester City is a big part of my life. My first match was against Brighton in September 1978. We won 4-1, and I’ve been hooked ever since. The last few years have been a bit dodgy, but you’ve got to keep the faith.

my influences and inspirations

I’ve got a pretty broad span of influences and inspirations.

Stephen King has always been one of my favourite writers. His simple and effective style of storytelling is something I’ve tried to emulate. I also like David Peace, George Orwell and Alan Sillitoe, the non-fiction writing of Gordon Burn and Hugh McIlvanney, and playwrights Joe Orton, John Osborne and Arthur Miller.

Music, sport and films are also very important to me. I’m a fan of The Killers, The Rolling Stones and Morrissey. My first musical love was 2-Tone, and I’m still into The Specials, The Beat and Madness in a big way. Level 42 are my guilty pleasure.

Sporting heroes of mine include Marvin Hagler (1980’s World Middleweight boxing champ) and Martin O’Neill, Leicester City’s greatest ever manager.

My favourite films are vintage horrors, particularly the British ones from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are my top actors. I met Christopher Lee once. They say you should never meet your heroes, but Christopher Lee was great – he signed my video copy of Rasputin The Mad Monk!

miscellaneous influences/interests/inspirations/heroes/likes

If I tried to write about each of these individually, you’d be here until Christmas, so I’ve just made a list. These are all the people/places/things that have meant something to me over the years…

Peter Cushing; Viz Comic; Terence Fisher; Tex Avery Cartoons; Mick Jagger; Tom And Jerry; Morrissey; Nigel Benn; Laurel And Hardy; Keith Richards; Christopher Lee; Stephen King; Martin O’Neill; Marvin Hagler; Clint Eastwood; Eddie Murphy; Beavis And Butthead; Spitting Image; The Guardian; Monkey; Arthur Miller; The Far Side; Bagpuss; How To Be A Complete Bastard; Circuses; Tony Hancock; Oliver Reed; Love And Money; Leicester City FC; Alan Frank; True Crime; South Park; Randolph Turpin; The Specials; Big Brother; John Osborne; A Question Of Sport; Beachy Head; Neil Lennon; The Water Margin; Alan Bennett; Levi’s Jeans; David Peace; Two Tone Records; Subbuteo; The Smiths; Donald Rumbelow; Astronomy; Starbucks; Natural History; David Beckham; Midget Gems; Britpop; Animals; Hue And Cry; George Orwell; Converse Shoes; The Jungle Book; Harrington Jackets; McDonalds Coffee; The Horror Film Handbook; Boxing Monthly; Iain Sinclair; Birling Gap; Sherlock Holmes; Fawlty Towers; Guinness Book Of British Hit Singles and Albums; Lon Chaney Jr; Bram Stoker; Cud; Spike Milligan; Red Hot Pokers; Fishing; Pubs; 80’s Computer Games; Harry Hill; Pulp Fiction Paperbacks; David Pirie; Adidas; Army Parkas; Mary Shelley; Keith Weller; Noel Gallagher; Martin Scorsese; Bill Naughton; Roald Dahl; The Young Ones; Denis Gifford; Silloth; Curry; Joe Orton; Secondhand Bookshops; SpongeBob SquarePants; The Who; John Carpenter; Basil Rathbone; Grange Hill; Robbie Williams; Gary Lineker; Graham Greene; Charity Shops; The Beat; Castles; British Kitchen Sink Dramas 1950’s/60’s; The Rolling Stones; Car Boot Sales; Jonathan Rigby; Level 42; The Office; Martin Amis; Bad Manners; Alan Sillitoe; Vinyl Singles/LPs; Universal Films; Arthur Conan Doyle; Soccer Saturday; Hammer Films; Barry Hines; Oscar Wilde; The Killers; RL Stevenson; Roobarb And Custard; RKO Films; Val Lewton; Fred Perry; The Beatles; Jarvis Cocker; John Fowles; Gazza; The London Nobody Knows; Kenneth Williams; John Steinbeck; A Touch Of Frost; Liam Gallagher; Madchester; Daniel Farson; Roger Corman; Oasis; Collecting Things; Brandon Flowers; Mary Danby; King Of The Hill; Hugh McIlvanney; Architecture; Madness; British History; Damon Albarn; Saturday Night Live; Douglas Dunn; Patrick Hamilton; MR James; Edgar Allan Poe; Vincent Price; BlackAdder; 80’s Music; Boris Karloff; The Selecter; Bela Lugosi; UB40; Reeves And Mortimer; Faded Glamour; Piers; Nostalgia; Monty Python; The Kinks; Leicester; Birmingham; Eastbourne; London; Mario Bava; Will Downing; 1980s American Soul/Funk; The British Seaside; British Popular Culture 1950’s Onwards; Rik Mayall; Desert Boots; The Old Varsity Tavern; John Hurt; David Seabrook; Peter Sasdy; Johnny Morris; Russell Brand; Quadrophenia; Jock Wallace; Kasabian; The Bakers Arms; Top Of The Pops; Filbert Street; The Walkers Stadium; Napoleon Dynamite; Lowestoft; Great Yarmouth; Weymouth; Callella; Selly Oak