Bob Fischer manages to get at least 1 very tenuous link to the Boro in this plug for his latest book. (Ed, I think that should read “only book”). So, relax, pull up a Space Hopper and enjoy……
WIFFLE LEVER TO FULL!
So, what do I do with myself when I’m not faffing around between the records on the radio? Well, eat Blue Riband biscuits. Watch Hi-De-Hi on DVD. Think about painting the bathroom ceiling. Oh, and last summer, I wrote a book. Yay!
No, really… I did. Like the bathroom ceiling, I’d wanted to do it for ages, but never thought I had the clarity of mind and the ability to stay on a chair for long enough to get it finished. It was only when I realised that I’d spent almost a full year going to eleven science fiction and cult TV conventions around the country that I decided I had something to write about.
And, aaargh! The things I saw. They’d make a Cyberman turn, erm, grey. Or whatever colour Cybermen turn when they’re slightly distressed. It all started in Stockton, when I went to a Doctor Who convention and watched two women fighting in a taxi rank outside the Swallow Hotel being placidly observed by a Prydonian Chapter Time Lord eating prawn cocktail crisps at the bar. From then on, I was hooked - and before I knew it was doing Star Wars, and Blake’s 7, and Star Trek, and James Bond, and The Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, and The Prisoner, and Discworld, and Robin Of Sherwood, and Monty Python and Red Dwarf.
Can I come up for breath now?
So it’s all in there. And, especially for Boro fans, the book contains references to Craig Hignett, Paul Wilkinson, our UEFA cup tie against Dnipro, and a 2-1 home victory at home to Southampton at Ayresome Park on 26th January 1993, at the end of which I was so excited I went home and attempted to watch all seventeen episodes of The Prisoner in one go.
And nostalgia! It’s got more nostalgia than you could shake a packet of Butterscotch Angel Delight at. As I toured around these strange and brilliant weekends, I ended up being swept back to a 1970s and 1980s childhood idled away on Teesside, watching Doctor Who on my gran’s TV in Acklam while my Dad swore at a relegation-bound Boro, and attempting to emulate the Star Wars trash compactor in the spare room with four tins of Spaghetti Hoops and the family dog dressed up as Chewbacca. So it’s all in there, with the contents of an entire packet of Sherbert Dib-Dabs sprinkled on top.
So there you go. It’s called ‘Wiffle Lever To Full!’, it’s published by Hodder & Stoughton on the 24th July, and it’s very reasonably priced at most major retailers. Like these, for example…
Wiffle Lever To Full! On Amazon UK
Wiffle Lever To Full! On Play.Com
I’ve also set up an ‘official’ blog to put lots of ramblings and pictures and films and things on, and that’s at…
And there’s a Myspace page (www.myspace.com/wifflelevertofull) and a Facebook group (I’m sure you can guess what it’s called). Oh, and a couple of weeks ago I was held hostage by a character from ‘The Battle To Save Earth’, I story a wrote in 1981 when I was eight. Video evidence exists below…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHLWRMfcrMY
And yes, since seeing this I’ve had a haircut. And gone on a punishing fitness regime. And cleaned the back wall in the front room.
(Ed - well one bit of the above is a blatant lie, he’s not had a haircut, as for the fitness malarkey, cleaning ………..
Good luck and hope it sells like hot pies on a wet day at Oakwell)