Robert Hugill

More of that in the next chapter!

Mam is moderately common in the UK, not just Wales (it's how my father used to refer to his mother), whilst Da is not uncommon. The different words for mother and father are intended to reflect the variety of the various characters' upbringings.

Behind & Between: a different kind of nationalism All over Europe, the late 19th century was a time of rising nationalism and a discovery of local roots. For instance, in Scandinavia and the Baltic there developed open-air museums devoted to exhibiting local native culture, whilst the musical heritage in the Baltic fed directly into a singing revolution from 1987 to 1991. In Wales, the cultural revival included renewed interest in Welsh literature and language, and the revival of

Saturday morning was usually a time for pottering about: doing small and useful jobs around the house, and admin or similar on the podcast. Today, though, I set the alarm and before anyone could nab the parking space outside the house, reserved it by putting out dustbins and some old cones kept for the purpose. I knew that Julian wouldn’t be around until mid-morning, but I was restless. I dug out my references pertaining to Sir Malcolm Acaster and printed everything out. At some point I

“Russ Kahn, CEO of RK Enterprises, said that such comments are simply homophobic. That providing female entertainers and dancers at an event would be considered unexceptional, and the main thrust of the article was to argue that having male dancers was automatically lewd and led to behaviour that people could take exception to. All the entertainers employed by RK Enterprises were reputable professionals and members of Equity. RK Enterprises takes strong exception to the comments.” “Fucki

Mother and Nana are due shortly! Nana has an important role in the plot. Don't worry, Norton is going to appear in all his 'glory' soon.

Don't worry, Norton is going to appear in all his 'glory' soon.

“Your ride awaits, sir.” Julian did an ironic bow. He was in leather jacket and suit trousers, his crash helmet under his arm. I grinned and kissed him before I second-guessed myself. We were meeting just round the corner from the Talent Nurture offices—somewhere he could pull up easily on the motorbike without causing chaos. “You look a fine sight.” He smiled. “You’re not so shabby yourself.” “Mmm? A bit crumpled I’m afraid, and suffering from an overdose of video confe

We try!

I did wonder about making it longer, but have not (so far) worked out how!

Cooking Lessons The doorbell rang. I cursed (I was in the middle of writing an article), wandered to the front door and prepared to dismiss another charity beggar or some such. The figure standing there seemed to fill the doorway. OK, I exaggerate, only he was tall and broad, whilst I am short and skinny. “Hi. I’m Garry. Bumped you at the Co-op the other day.” The words were friendly enough, but the tone had a truculence to it that made me mentally duck. I knew him by sight, and

When Ned agrees to give his neighbour cooking lessons, he finds himself being drawn into the life of ex-con, Garry, and his daughter, Lizzie. Garry is trying to turn his life around, but as Ned finds out, moral support and cooking lessons will only go so far.

We get more of the 'delightful' Norton in a bit, when he comes to visit.

Evie was Dad’s elder sister and his only sibling. When he divorced Mum and then went to the Middle East, he somehow managed to leave Evie behind. Unmarried, she referred to me as her favourite nephew (I was her only nephew), and she had treated Mum as if the families had remained close. Which meant that every so often I had to go to tea with her, and occasionally would find myself organised into activities that Evie thought would be good for me. She felt that I had a disturbing lack of inter

Ma and Nana finally appear in chapter 8, as Julian taking Oliver to meet his family seemed a big step. But thereafter, they play a big role in the story