Trials and tribulations of a Roadie

Don't set quiz questions when you have dodgy eyesight!

2007-01-14T13:07:00.000-08:00

In 1997 I was working at Butlins. I worked on a twice daily live cable TV show that was broadcast to all the chalets and caravans on the campsite. I did everything except present the show, so I was the cameraman, vision mixer, sound and lighting guy etc.1 week we were given a load of toys to use as prizes. Rob the presenter asked me to come up with an easy question that all the kids would know the answer to.
I was in the newsagents, and saw a Barney The Dinosaur comic. That would be my question, 'What colour is Barney?' Rob read out the question that night and we waited until Friday, the closing date, while the answers came in.Friday morning, and Rob says to me, 'We've had a load of entries, but according to the answer you have given me, they are all wrong! Are you sure Barney is pink?' Well with my dodgy eyesight, he looked pink to me! And I will swear to this day that the comic makers must have been scrimping on the ink and had watered it down.I decided to be stubborn, stick to my guns and bluff it out! 'Yes Rob, he's definately pink. They are just kids, what do they know'So competition time arrives and Rob says 'Nobody won the prizes, Barney is pink and we did not receive a single correct entry. Now for a cartoon.'While the cartoon was on, we became aware of a commotion in the office outside the studio. When the cartoon finished, we quickly went into a pre-recorded interview with Bobby Davro and went outside to see what was going on. There was about a dozen holidaymakers kicking off because we had given the wrong answer out on the air. I had spikey hair at the time and 1 Irish woman called me a 'cheating hedgehog' who was 'trying to keep all of the toys for himself'Now I must confess that I DID swipe a Noddy alarm clock that I still use to wake me up of a morning, but I had made a genuine colour blind mistake!1 of the campers had even brought along her 5 year old daughter and her Barney stuffed toy, who was indeed purple. We brought the little girl and her Barney doll on the show, I apologised profusely, and we gave her all of the toys.Butlins TV was taken off the air at the end of that season.

The Serial Killer Beatle

2006-12-30T17:27:00.000-08:00

I was in The Grapes pub in Mathew Street in Liverpool once with my mate Bernie. The Beatles used to drink in The Grapes in the early 60s when they played in The Cavern. There are photos of them drinking in The Grapes on the wall of the pub. Bernie stared at a photo and said to me 'That's The Beatles isn't?'

'Yes it is' I replied

'Well that's Lennon and that's McCartney. But who's that then?' asked Bernie.'That's Stu Sutcliffe. He was their bassist before Paul McCartney switched from guitar to bass.' I informed him.

'You what?!?! Stu Sutcliffe?' said Bernie. 'You mean the Yorkshire Ripper was a member of The Beatles! Am not havin' that!'

More Music - The Early Years

2006-12-27T09:12:00.000-08:00

Back in 1982 I used to listen to a rock show on my local radio station, Radio City here in Liverpool. The show was called The Great Easton Express and the host was Phil Easton, who now makes pre-match and half time announcements at Liverpool FC's home games.Anyway, 1 night Mr Easton started dropping unsubtle hints that an upcoming gig at the Liverpool Empire by someone called Freddie McGregor plus the Studio One Band was actually a 'secret gig' by The Rolling Stones! The next morning in work I told everyone about this and in my dinner hour shot over to the Empire and purchased 10 tickets for myself and my workmates. As the gig drew nearer, some doubting Thomases, who didn't have tickets, started winding us up that it wasn't the Stones and it was some Reggae artist. As if!!!!!!!! Our man in the music business, Phil Easton, wouldn't mis-lead us.Thursday June 10th arrived and we all turned up to see Mick and the boys play a theatre gig. The fact that there was no Stones merchandise for sale in the foyer didn't throw us. OK there were T shirts in the colours of the Jamaican flag with the picture of a Rasta on instead, but so what? The support band came on and played 45 minutes of Reggae. Well Keith Richards loves his Reggae, he probably personally chose them for the support slot. Then it was time for the headliners, the 30 or so Rastas on the front row got excited, well as excited as a laid back, stoned Rasta ever gets and the other 2300 white middle class, middle aged members of the audience got ready for the Stones.Now you probably don't need me to tell you that The Stones did not play that night. Yes Freddie McGregor is a Reggae legend. No I never have forgiven Phil Easton. I still have my ticket stub. T 19 stalls price 4 pounds and 50 pence.
The moral of this story? 'If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is'

Christmas presents

2006-12-26T02:12:00.000-08:00

I got loads of presents for Christmas. I received the following -
Pink Floyd Pulse double DVD (the greatest lightshow ever?)
The Monkees Complete 2nd season DVD (Got all the episodes on video but this has loads of extras too)
The Partridge Family Complete 1st season DVD
Rainbow Live Between The Eyes + The Final Cut double DVD
Whitesnake Live in the Still of the Night DVD + CD set
The Beatles Love CD
Pink Floyd Animals CD (already got this on cassette)
Pink Floyd Obscured By Clouds CD
Partridge Family + David Cassidy Could It Be Forever? best of CD (got most of this on vinyl)
Coffee Truffles
Bedding
6 pairs of socks
CD Walkman (the one I have in work is on its last legs)

My Interests No 2 Music - More from the early years

2006-12-24T02:42:00.000-08:00

Music - More from the early years Current mood: good Category: Music
I have been listening to Blue Oyster Cult recently and because music often revives memories, it has reminded me of the 1st time I drank beer in a pub.When I was 15 I went to see Blue Oyster Cult at Bingley Hall, Stafford. I went by car with 2 school mates Steve (Wolfie) Wolfenden, John (Davo) Davies, my Maths teacher Mr Hillyard and my History teacher Mr Stone. Mr Stone had a wild mop of curly hair and a beard that any member of ZZ Top would be proud of. After seeing Mr Stone at a parent's evening, my Dad would refer to him as 'The Aborigine'.We arrived at Stafford early so the teachers said they were going to the pub and left us to our own devices. A visit to the chippy was decided upon and Wolfie ordered 1st. After spotting the 12 inch long sausages, he said to the young girl behind the counter 'A portion of chips and a sausage as big as my d*ck' I went into hysterics at this point. Schoolboy humour obviously!After scoffing our chips Davo suggested we visit the pub. I was a bit worried about this because I was the youngest looking. Wolfie was 6ft 2in tall with long blonde hair (he looked like a young mid 70s Rick Wakeman) and so would have no trouble getting served. Davo and I both shaved regularly, Davo every other day, me every other week! I couldn't lose face in front of my mates so said 'Yeah, lets go for a drink' and I think I even said something about copping for a barmaid.On entering the pub, Davo asked what we were drinking and I said 'A pint', he said 'A pint of what?' 'Beer' I niaively answered. 'So Lager then?' Davo enquired, 'OK, I will have that instead' I replied making it obvious that I wasn't an experienced drinker.While Davo went to the bar, I headed to the darkest, most secluded corner I could find so as not to draw attention to myself. After about 5 mins I noticed a huge fella, with a shaved head and covered in tattoos who was stood at the bar staring intently at me. When he realised that I had noticed him, he slowly walked over to our table. As he towered over me, with me cowering on my stool, he picked my pint up and had a good long look at it. I remember he had 'HATE' tattooed on his hand, something I thought never happened in real life. Only convicts in B movies have HATE tattooed on their knuckles surely? 'What's your pint like?' he said in a voice that would make 'I am going to give you all my money' sound like a threat.Now take a moment to ponder the scene. I am 15, 100 miles from home, in a pub for the 1st time in my life, obviously under age and some gorilla covered in tattoos is asking me about my pint. 'It's lovely, I mean it's great, a really good pint' I stuttered. He looked at it again and said 'This doesn't look good to me'. 'That's it' I thought, 'He's about to kick me out' when he said 'This pint looks cloudy to me. Take it back to the bar and get another one. If that censored behind the bar says anything, I'll censored him!' 'No its alright honestly!' I stammered drinking the rest of the pint as quickly as I could. We then made a hastey exit and headed towards the gig. Just as I thought I had got away without embarassing myself too much, the pint of lager and the chips decided they weren't staying down and I threw the lot up, all over my new cowboy boots!

Losing my virginity

2006-12-14T15:15:00.000-08:00

I was 17 and still a virgin. I had my first proper girlfriend at 16. Diane was my first true love and I was absolutely mad about her. Well, you are when it's your 'first love'. She lived round the corner from my house, but if I stood on a table and looked out of my bedroom window I could see between the houses behind mine and see her front door. Our relationship consisted of us walking to and from school everyday, doing homework together once or twice a week, I would go round to hers on a Friday evening and we would listen to The Friday Rock Show on the radio and on Saturday evenings she would come round to mine and we would watch TV or listen to records in my bedroom. We kissed and held hands, but that was it. It was a very innocent relationship.

I remember the night she dumped me. We had been to a trendy club in Liverpool city centre on a double date with her best friend Christine and her boyfriend. I had been to clubs before but it was always Heavy Rock clubs with 3 or 4 male mates. Anyway I got all dressed up, which I hated and we went to this club that played awful disco music. I was in a right foul mood all night. When we got out of the taxi outside Diane's she dumped me. I can remember every word. Diane 'Going out with someone is meant to be fun. Tonight it was no fun at all. I am finishing with you' Then she said that immortal line 'But we can still be friends' I replied 'I have enough friends already. See you then' I was heartbroken. When you are dumped by your first love it is always a killer. We have never spoken since that night in 1980.

A year later I started seeing my 2nd girlfriend Barbara. My feelings for her were nothing compared to my feelings for Diane. Barb was OK. She was a very big girl (and I don't mean tall) and she liked rock. She introduced me to Judas Priest and Stackwaddy for which I am eternally grateful. Anyway Barb was sexually experienced, unlike me. After we had been seeing each other for a couple of months and we had partaken in some heavy petting on the couch in her front room, the chance to lose my virginity finally arose. My Mum and Dad went on holiday and left me to look after the house for 2 weeks.

The first Saturday they were away we went to a local pub so I could get some Dutch courage and a packet of condoms from the machine in the toilets. We then headed back to mine and straight up to my parent's bedroom. Well, they had a double bed and I was going to need plenty of bed space for all my love making skills! If you class slowly undressing the woman as 'foreplay', then the foreplay lasted about 30 mins. This was because she was wearing dungarees which I could not sexily remove her from and a bra I could not unhook. When she was finally naked my brain was screaming 'WOW! It's a naked woman!' but my face was trying to portray 'Yeah, she's naked. So what? It's nothing I haven't seen before' It most certainly was. I had never seen a naked woman before and I still do not think I have seen a woman with breasts as large as hers.

We slid under the sheets together and after 5 minutes of kissing and some groping I was standing to attention and ready to rock and roll! I got the packet of condoms out and ripped the foil off one of them. I then unravelled it and tried to put it on just like you would put a sock on your foot. Barb lay there with an increasingly shocked look on her face. After a couple of minutes of this unsuccessful condom fitting, I began to wilt and to feel very frustrated. Barb eventually asked me if I had ever worn a condom before. She did not know I was a virgin and I was not about to confess so I told her something like 'all the other girls were on the pill'. She spent 5 minutes 'stiffening me up' again and showed me how to put a condom on.

OK! Now I really was ready for action. I at the time thought that a penis was like a heatseeking missile. It just found the target immediately. This did not prove to be the case. It was getting pushed against her thigh, prodded against her ample stomach and then poked against her even more ample bottom. It was then she said the great line, ' This house has a front door and a back door. I would prefer it if you used the front door. You are trying to put it into the wrong hole' I realised it was going a lot nearer to her bottom than the intended area but I tried to cover for my niaivety by saying 'Wrong hole? Only if your arsehole IS the wronghole' (- what a charmer I was). She then threatened to cease our lovemaking unless I behaved. I was not going to be denied my great moment so I let her guide me in.

Oh my God! This is it! This is what I have waited for. I am having sex! It was one of the best 3 seconds of my life. She did not say 'Is that it' out loud but the look on her face did. I think I may have fallen asleep virtually straight after that but if I did, it will have been a very contented sleep. I do remember having alot of problems disposing of the condoms. I did not wrap them in tissue paper and just tried to flush them down the toilet. They filled up with water, floated to the surface and would not flush away. I fished them out a couple of days later and threw them in the bin. Barb and I split up shortly after that. She did not say that sexual frustration contributed to the split, but it may have been a contributing factor. Who knows?

My Interests No 2 Music - The early years

2006-12-01T17:55:00.000-08:00

Music is my biggest interest in life. My awakening to music happened in June 1972. I was 8 years old at the time. I liked some Glam Rock like Sweet, T Rex and Gary Glitter (Yes I know! I saw him live 3 times before he was exposed) but I did not own any records at all. Then one Thursday evening as I was watching Top Of The Pops (this was in TOTPs heyday when 20 million people watched it) Alice Cooper appeared with School's Out to blast the Donny Osmonds and David Cassidys clean away. This was proper rock not watered down, poppy Glam Rock. Alice's band all had waist length hair and wore wild gold and silver clothes and in the middle stood Alice. Platform boots, leather flares, blouse (it looked too girlie to be a shirt) unbuttoned to his navel, Clockwork Orange eye make up smeared on, shaggy perm and he was waving a sword round. This was my musical epiphany. The following Saturday I bought my first ever record, the single School's Out. After that I bought the Alice Cooper albums Killer and Love It To Death. Nearly 35 years later I am still addicted to buying albums. And I still love Alice despite the awful albums he released in the 80s and early 90s. See when it comes to music I am not fickle. In fact I must be obsessed. If there is an artist/band I really like and they have released loads of albums, I will still buy their albums that I know are awful, just so that I have everything they have recorded. I must have 2 dozen albums by Alice, Santana and Tangerine Dream that I bought, knowing beforehand that they were abysmal and I would probably never listen to them more than once. Perhaps I need medical help.

My 2nd great musical awakening happened in 1979 when I was 15. I went to my first ever rock concert. I went to see the German Heavy Metal band The Scorpions at Liverpool Empire. I went with my school friend John Davies the elder brother of Richie mentioned in my last Blog entry. A quick story about John and Richie. They shared a bedroom together and John had a Pink Floyd poster above his bed that Richie coveted. So John sold the poster to Richie for £2. The only difference the change of ownership had, was that the poster was moved 10 feet along the same wall to above Richie's bed. A good bit of business by John I thought. Anyway my first gig. The first thing that really shook me (literally) was the sheer volume of the music. Up til that moment I had only ever listened to music on the radio or on my parents radiogram as background music while I did my homework. Suddenly my ears were being assailed by Heavy Metal blasting out of huge speakers at 110 decibels. The other great surprise was that at the gig I saw dozens of grown men playing Air Guitar. Now I thought I was the only person who played Air Guitar and then only in the privacy of my own bedroom. OK I am lying slightly, I did not play Air Guitar. I played Air My Sister's Tennis Racquet. I took Air Racquet very seriously too. I tied a long piece of string to the racquet to act as a guitar lead. I put 2 pairs of shoes on the floor in front of me. These were my effects pedals and I often twiddled with the knobs of my radio which was switched off, imagining that I was making adjustments to my amp. I also perfected the pulling of some great 'guitarist playing a really tricky solo' faces. Ever since that first concert I have loved seeing really good bands live. I sometimes even find technically awful bands entertaining live. I can on occasion enjoy seeing a band live who's records I don't particularly like. I guess I just love music.

My Interests No 2 Music - My brief career in bands

2006-11-25T02:41:00.000-08:00

When I was at school, say aged about 10, if you would have asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would have said 'Lead singer in a rock band'. However, around the same time I came to the painful realisation that I am tone deaf and cannot carry a tune in a bucket. So I quickly revised 'Lead singer in a band' to 'In a band'.

In 1979 when I was 15, I bought a Roland SH-09 synthesizer for £180. In today's money that would be about £600 which is alot for a 15 year old. I joined up with 3 friends who lived close to mine, Rob Holden Guitar, Rob Merino Drums and Richie Davies Bass to form a punk band called The Castrators. The only song we ever wrote was called 'Snot Is Green' Sample lyric -

I went to the park the other day
Where I met my local DJ
And he said
Snot aint red
Snot is green, snot is green, snot is green!

We then decided that as this was 1979 we had perhaps missed the punk boat and none of us were really into punk music anyway. Plus we were all middle class kids (I could afford a £180 synth) from Childwall one of the posher parts of Liverpool. We decided to mutate into a Space Rock band because we were all into Pink Floyd and Hawkwind. This suited me fine as all I ever did with the synth was make weird, spacey, electronic noises. We played a combination of covers Astronomy Domine, Floyd, Master of The Universe, Hawkwind and some originals about time travel and space flight. Sample lyric from a song I wrote called The Depths of Space -

We Have flown past planets
We have flown past stars
We have flown past Venus
Now we are flying past Mars

We rechristened ourselves The Richie Davies Band because we rehearsed in Richie's bedroom and we thought it would be cool if we were named after the Bassist which is quite unusual. We rehearsed alot but soon problems started to emerge. Richie had mental health problems and is a paranoid schizophrenic. Of course as 16 year olds we did not understand this and we just thought that Richie was a weirdo. Richie became very difficult to be around and you couldn't even hold a simple conversation with him at times. I personally started to think of Richie as our own Syd Barrett type character but Rob Holden was really freaked out by him and said he was leaving. Rob Merino then decided that Space Rock music was 'B*ll*cks' and left to join a Joy Division influenced band. That left just me and Richie and it got to the point where Richie would come round to my house and sit in my bedroom for hours saying absolutely nothing. I have not seen Richie in 25 years.

In 1982 I formed a synth pop duo with an old school friend called Pete Stiles. This will shock alot of people who know me because I now detest synth pop. What you have to remember is that in 1982 Gary Numan, Orchestral Manouvres In The Dark, The Human League, Flock of Seagulls were all huge. I totally transformed myself by getting my long centre part rock hair cut into the then trendy wedge style and I started wearing big round red coloured glasses. We called our duo The Spastic Robots. I added a drum machine to my synth noises and Pete sang and played 1 finger tunes on a Casio keyboard. Sample lyric from our song Suburban Nightmare

The Autonoms slowly wander
While society heads squander
Money, health and wealth
Through undue sneaky stealth

Again we rehearsed alot, this time in Pete's garage. The split this time came when Pete announced he was gay. I did not have a problem with that but his macho Father did. His Dad came home drunk one night and gave him a right hiding for being 'Queer'. For his own safety Pete immediately moved to Manchester to live with his elder brother and that was the end of The Spastic Robots.

It was also the end of my music making career for about 20 years. I lent my synth to someone back in the 90s and never got it back so I bought a new synth, a Nova in 2002. I have recorded hours of stuff on my own under the name of Gus but I have not done anything on my own for awhile now. I just seem to be repeating myself and I miss working with other people. In 2004 I joined up with my then girlfriend's brother Charlie and we called ourselves Strange Angels. Charlie's Mum has an Apple Mac and we used a couple of music making programmes along with my synth and Charlie providing vocals. Sample lyric from Blah Blah Blah Muthaf*cka

Blah Blah Blah
Blah Muthaf*cka
Blah Blah Blah
Muthaf*cka Blah Blah

It actually works really well in the context of the song! Unfortunately Strange Angels are no more. Charlie is a drug addict and I recently learnt he is currently in prison in London. This is an incredible shame as Charlie is one of the most gifted people I know. He writes fantastic poetry, is an excellent artist, his drawings are great and in Strange Angels he was the 'Beat Master'. I just hope he sorts himself out one day.

My Interests No 1 Boxing

2006-11-23T14:06:00.000-08:00

I haven't spoken about my interests yet, so that is probably what I will do in my next few posts.

I am a fan of boxing, well watching it not doing it. Now I appreciate that to some people it is totally barbaric and if you break it down to Boxing is basically 2 men trying to beat each other into unconsciousness, they probably have a point. I however, find boxing and boxers, fascinating.

I first became interested in boxing as a child when I watched Muhammad Ali's great fights with my Dad. No, I don't mean Ali had fights with my Dad, I mean I was with my Dad when we watched Ali's great fights with Frazier, Foreman and Norton. I lost interest when Ali retired but I got back into it when ITV started showing fights featuring Larry Holmes, Marvin Hagler, Tommy Hearns, Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard in the mid 80s. I even used to buy Boxing News every week, but my mate Mick reckoned I only used to carry it round with me to try and look hard.

I do really admire boxers. The dedication and determination they have to show to be successful is incredible. My friend Colin Dunne used to be a World Champion boxer so I saw up close the dedication and hard work he had to put in. It was only when he started being slightly less dedicated when he discovered Guinness and started having girlfriends that his fights became harder and harder. Eventually he lost 2 fights in a row to boxers he would have easily beaten in his prime and thankfully he retired immediately before he got hurt. He wisely has not even considered making a comeback which some boxers foolishy do. The boxers who I admire the most though, are crap boxers. They get in the ring and get pummelled from pillar to post for a pitance. That makes them either very brave, or very stupid. I think they are brave.

Boxing now is in a pretty poor state. The main problem is there are too many versions of the 'World' title. This means that the best boxers in a weight division very rarely meet each other. All the decent boxers win a different version of the title then just defend against poorer fighters. Oh for a return to the golden age of boxing, the 70s and 80s when there were great fights between the best in each division on a monthly basis.

My Inner Demon

2006-11-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

If you ask most people who know me what I am like, most will say something along the lines of I am laid back, I don't worry, I usually seem happy etc etc. Now generally that is true but unfortunately I do have an inner demon that so far in 42 years has raised it's head 3 times. 3 times in nearly 43 years my not seem like alot but the intensity of my fury has left the witnesses somewhat shocked.

The first time it emerged was in the Summer of 1991. At the time I was still living with Angela my ex fiance' but we were no longer together. She was seeing someone else and I was seeing Andi who lived 150 miles away in Devizes. It was a sunny Saturday night and Guns and Roses were live on Sky from Paris. Andi was at the gig and I was watching out for her in the 150,000 strong crowd. Now you will see a pattern of sorts emerge here as I can recall virtually nothing of what happened. I remember the concert had got to the encores and then nothing. I know I totally trashed the flat as the next morning the furniture was over turned there were CDs and tapes everywhere and my beloved Lava Lamp had been smashed. Angela says I did not hit her but she was sufficiently scared to lock herself in the bathroom, the only room with a lock on the door. I then apparently went out and I must have fallen over or something as I had bruising to my right hip and elbow. Angela went to look for me at my Mums and Sisters but I was not at either of them. When she returned I was sat on the doorstep as I had not taken my key with me. She tells me I went straight to bed and the next thing I do remember is Angela waking me up and saying you are due in on overtime in half an hour.

The second appearance was in 1996. At the time I was seeing Janet. Every Sunday afternoon we would go to a pub quiz in the Red House in Old Swan. The quizmaster nicknamed me Crazy Horse because I had very long hair and wore a coat that looked like it was made out of an Indian blanket. Anyway, we were on our way back to mine and we had just been to the chippy. Again I have no idea what set me off but I apparently damaged a street sign and threw the chippy meals away. Janet is not easily intimidated and her sense of humour is more one of laughing at people rather than with them, so she found it quite funny in a strange kind of way but she said I went 'absolutely beserk'. I then refused to answer her phone calls for a week.

The most recent incident was in Paris with Nathalia. We had had 2 great days sightseeing and on the second and last evening, Nathalia's birthday, we had been for a lovely posh meal. We were on the way back to the hotel and again my recollections are fairly hazy. I know we were crossing a busy road which in Paris scared the life out of me as the Parisian drivers seemed mad and did not follow normal driving conventions, when again I went beserk. I said some stupid things that I cannot remember word for word and Nathalia was crying and no matter how hard she tried I would not calm down. Worst of all I pushed her away too. As with Janet I continued to act like an idiot and would not see sense for about a week afterwards.

Now I have confessed all that I suspect anyone reading this will now give me a wide berth. The most worrying part is that each time there was no warning or build up and it was totally at odds with how I act 99.99% of the time. One of the reasons why I stopped drinking all together in the late 90s was in case that was a contributing factor. On all 3 occasions I had had something to drink but in reality I know that trying to blame alcohol is no excuse. Its me and me alone.

The Origin of the Species

2006-11-19T00:09:00.000-08:00

Gus The Cameraman? Well, that's not my real name obviously. On my birth certificate it has my forenames as John and Paul. John is a family name for the males, my Dad was called John and his Dad was called John. Presumably his Dad was called John too. It now seems unlikely that I will father any children, so the family name of John will probably die out with me. The problem with John as a family name was that there were too many Johns around. (Too Many Johns - sounds like a US sitcom about a toilet cleaner) If my Mum (Mrs Gus) shouted 'John' we never knew if she wanted my Dad or me so my family have always called me Paul.

I was born on 12th February 1964 at the height of Beatlemania. That day The Beatles played at Carnegie Hall in New York. It was the second concert on their first ever trip to America and it was 3 days after their famous first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. I already had the John (Lennon) so my middle name was Paul after Paul McCartney.

In 1997 I went to work at Butlins in Pwllheli in North Wales and this is where the name Gus comes from. I went there to work on a twice daily live TV show called Up In The Attic. It was broadcast via cable to all the chalets and caravans on the camp. The programme was done by just the presenter Rob McNally and me. We wrote the programme between us, Rob presented it and I did the camerawork and the sound and vision mixing. The shows were an hour long and we switched between the live studio and pre recorded stuff on tape. The show consisted of cartoons, adverts for the bars and shops on the camp that we filmed, pre recorded interviews by Rob with the various celebrities that appeared on the camp like Alvin Stardust, Bobby Davro etc, live in the studio interviews with Redcoats and camp entertainers (No, they weren't gay they worked for Butlins!) and some spoof weather reports from Gayle Force, who was Rob in drag. In the Gayle Force segments Gayle was a grumpy, alcoholic Weather woman who was always arguing with her cameraman who was called Gus The Cameraman and voiced by me. The character of Gus was expanded because when we did not have a live guest in the studio Rob wanted to talk to someone and as I was the only other person in the studio, he had to talk to Gus The Cameraman. With me doing the camera work and the sound and vision mixing I obviously could not appear in front of the camera, so we told the viewers that I was too ugly to be seen. The show 'Up In The Attic' was supposedly done from Rob's Mum's attic and Gus was kept permanently chained up in there. The studio which was tiny and used to be a stock room was brilliant. Rob's desk was the water tank, you could see the ladder up to the attic and behind him was a brick wall with all cracks. So all I did was work as Gus on the show and I was never seen. People would see me every day around the camp and knew I worked there but they would never see me working. When Redcoats etc appeared on the show they found out what I actually did. When anyone asked them 'Who's that weirdo who we always see around' they would reply 'Oh that's Gus The Cameraman' so everyone only knew me as Gus The Cameraman. Everyone who has met me for the first time in the last 9 years knows me as Gus. I quite like the name Gus because everyone remembers it. It is unusual and whereas most people know other Johns and Pauls they rarely know another Gus.

I am new to this

2006-11-17T09:55:00.000-08:00

Hi my name is Gus. I am 42, I live in Liverpool on my own in a flat. I have never married and have no children. I am not usually the kind of person to have a Blog. I have never kept a diary for instance. Keeping a Blog suggests that you think other people are going to be interested in your life and I cannot really see many people being interested in my life, which is fair enough.

The real reason for starting this Blog is because I want to join in with the Moon Project that a friend told me about, but knowing me if I do get into keeping a Blog, I will really get into it and I will probably be unable to stop writing. That is normally the way with me, when I get into something I really get into it but I can then have periods where I cannot really motivate myself to do more with 'it'.

Anyway that's about it for my first Blog post. Next time I will tell you a bit more about myself and my interests.