I started writing when I was six. This is what I wrote:
bodge (n) - a home-made cart, usually using the wheels from an old pram, a plank of wood, a bit of rope for steering and an old wooden box.
I went out on my bodge
A Typewriter, like
the one I first used.
Although I always had plenty of ideas, I found it difficult to hold a pen and my handwriting was dreadful. I only ever managed to write about one paragraph of anything and nobody could read it anyway.
Then, one day, my dad brought home an old typewriter he’d picked up at a jumble sale.
I found that I could type much more quickly than I could write with a pen. Not only that, people could even read what I’d written!
I sold my first poem to a national magazine when I was seventeen. I got paid 50p for that. I sold my first joke when I was twenty six. I got paid 50p for that, too. I went on to write jokes, songs and sketches for comedians such as David Jason and Lenny Henry.
I live near Rye, on the Sussex coast, with my wife and two sons. We have ten Soay sheep, fifteen chickens, five ducks, three cats and a dog.
I’m passionate about music and when I’m not writing I like to pretend that I’m an incredible jazz pianist. I like singing, too. And gardening. I support Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club.
To find out more about Roy’s books, television and theatre writing and his writing workshops, click on the tabs at the top of the page.
Geoffrey, a Soay sheep
