It’s kind of funny- I can’t remember many of the books that I used to read as a kid. This could be because there weren’t that many that went beyond C-A-T spells cat. Why would there be? All the reading material that I consumed came in the form of comic books surrounded by beautifully illustrated art work and given exotic names like Hulk, Spiderman or Dare-Devil. All characters that were in some way troubled – something that I could relate to. Trust me, thinking “Hey! What would Spiderman do?” has got me out of some tricky situations.

I can remember listen eagerly to the local news when some poor kid was injured jumping off a roof wearing a red cape thinking he was superman. I also remember telling my sister, “It serves the fool right for reading DC comics instead of Marvel.” I know, I know, don’t judge me for being a snot nosed kid, I was going through a phase!
One book I can definitely remember reading was ‘My Family and Other Animals’ the shenanigans in the wilds of Corfu. It held me captivated, but still it didn’t have any impact on my thoughts once the book was completed. A book that did blow my mind at the time and put me on the path of reading regularly was – Enter The Dragon which featured Bruce Lee kicking his way to justice. I see you rolling your eyes there, but come on — at least it set me the correct path. A teacher once told my class, ‘it doesn’t matter what you read so long as you read’. This could explain why many young men in that class ended up on the wrong side of the law!

I first got a taste of this great book when I was very young and my Mum and her sister had gone to watch the movie Enter The Dragon and returned with wild and wonderful stories. Laughing, they recalled how their running commentary of the film had almost gotten them thrown out of the theater. I sat in front of the living room coal fire and watched with my mouth hanging open as mom acted out all the fight sequences, kicking and punching the air – demolishing her imaginary foe. That was it! The very next day I went to the library in search of this book, but sadly they didn’t have it. Determined to read about these adventures, I had to dip into my hidden paper route money and muster a few coin to go buy the book. It’s no wonder why years later I started training in Karate. Sure it isn’t Kung- Fu but it’s close enough and lead me to represent Great Britain in many competitions.