I Have Hidden Talents

Greatest Rush...... In my GCSE year at school, they were taking photos for a new prospectus. I was being photographed in the music studio with a group of close harmony singers and it was all a bit, well, tame I guess. So we posed for the pics and as the photographer was discussing what else she could photograph that might be a bit different, I picked up my Fender (OK; Fender Squier!!!) and launched into Sweet Home Alabahma. Well, when I realised everyone had been stunned into silence and were staring at me mesmerised, I began to vamp it up a bit. Before I knew it, the photographer was snapping away and I was posing outrageously for her, and the crowds were gathering.

People at school knew me only as a clasical musician really, though I was into Blues and Country music in a big way on account of my Dad having been a keen Blues and R&B musician. In fact, it had only been with great suspicion and a bit of contempt that I'd been allowed to bring my kit into school to play for for the Lower school party where several of us Upper fifth formers were going to be the entertainment.

The cheers and applause at the end of the piece gave me the biggest thrill I have had before or since and I was seen in a completely different light after that. And I made the prospectus!