According to my Mum, when I was arriving in this world on the night of 24th August 1962 the electricity in the house failed, and all the lights went out. So I was born part in darkness and part in candlelight. I’ve no idea what significance that has, but it sounds impressive somehow…

I was born in Sunderland, a city in the north-east of England. I’d like to say I picked up the local Mackam accent, but unfortunately I only stayed long enough to toddle a few steps before my Dad whisked me, Mum and my older brother, Andy, down south.

I don’t remember too much about my first 8 years of life. I think I just day-dreamed it away. One thing I do remember is that our family was always moving, so I had to get used to a new school and friends all the time. I got to dread that first day in a new class. When I was only six I distinctly remember being told off in my first week at yet another new school by a teacher. I had no idea what I’d done wrong, but the teacher shouted loudly and made me spend about 30 minutes standing on my chair in front of the whole class as punishment. That was the second most embarrassing moment in my life. The most embarrassing moment in my life occurred about a year earlier when, after repeatedly telling my teacher I had to go to the bathroom, and being told to wait and wait and wait, I … er, couldn’t wait a single moment longer.

What was I like as a youngster? I don’t know – cheerful and a bit vacant probably sums it up quite well. We had a hawthorn wood at the back of my house, and I’d play there with my friends all day long whenever I had the chance. I always came home covered in scratches.

My school reports were spectacularly average. My teachers were always noting that I ‘day-dreamed’ a lot. I didn’t read much either, and when I did it was comics – mainly Marvel superhero comics. There was one superhero named The Silver Surfer who went silently round the Universe on a kind of space-surf boar