Monday, April 27, 2009

Twenty Firsts Meme

First Job
Mucking out my Dad’s pigs on a Saturday morning for 10p an hour

First Real Job
Researcher to Patrick Thompson MP 1985-7

First Role in Politics
Chairman of UEA Conservatives in 1981

First Car
An orange Ford Cortina Mk III, lovingly nicknamed the Big Jaffa. I wrote it off on my 20th birthday.

First Record
Long haired Lover from Liverpool by Jimmy Osmond. The shame lives with me still.

First Football Match
Cambridge Utd v Westham in a 1972 testimonial at the Abbey Stadium

First Concert
Darts at a free concert in Harlow in 1977

First Country Visited
France, on a day trip to Boulogne at the age of 7

First TV Appearance

Multi Coloured Swap Shop in 1978

First Political Speech
April 1982 during a debate on the Falklands at my university. It all started there...

First Girlfriend/Boyfriend
Rachel Elliott at Ashdon County Primary School. She had a runny nose.

First Encounter with a Famous Person
Cyril Fletcher from That's Life at a pantomime in the Arts Theatre Cambridge ca 1973

First Brush With Death
Hitting a Transit Van head on at 50 mph in the days before seatbelts. The long bonnet of my Cortina Mk III saved me - and my two sisters.

First House/Flat Owned
70 Howard Road, Walthamstow, in July 1988 - probably the worst time ever to buy a flat.

First Film Seen at a Cinema
Sound of Music at Saffron Walden Cinema, which is sadly no longer there.

First Time on the Radio
On the Radio One Breakfast Show with Mike Read in 1981 on Beat the Jock. I didn't.

First Politician I Met
Shirley Williams who spoke at my school in 1977

First Book I Remember Reading
The Secret of Spiggy Holes by Enid Blyton

First Visit to the London Palladium
1978, to see the reunion of Cliff & the Shadows!

First Election
1985 Norfolk County Council election, Catton Grove Ward. My finals were the next day. Had to be postponed after I suffered from shock having knocked a motorcyclist off his bike on polling day and breaking his leg. He was a Labour voter...

I now tag the following bloggers to do this meme... Dizzy, Tom Harris, Norfolk Blogger, Liberal England, Danny Finkelstein, Shane Greer, Hopi Sen, Paul Linford, Kerron Cross, Tory Bear. They should all then tag five bloggers.

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh dear so sad. Is there nothing better any of us can do?

It Will Come to Me said...

Have you ever met Miss Piggy (Moi prentious)?

Thatcher-right said...

First Real Job
Researcher to Patrick Thompson MP 1985-7
I guess your definition of a real job is different from mine. Mucking out pigs seems much more real to me!

Anonymous said...

First Job
Mucking out my Dad’s pigs on a Saturday morning for 10p an hour.

Westminister is better paid!

Plato said...

I thought Norfolk Blogger had given up for a bit?

wv lucksube *eewewww*

OscarIndia said...

Your favourite songs, your Downfall, your list of firsts. You've been spending too long on Twitter - which is where we'd be if we wanted to read a blog all about you.
Snap out of it, or call in Hello!
One or the other.

Westminster Worker said...

How many vs did you get in Catton Grove then Iain?

I presume you didn't win as I didn't think you had ever been a Cllr.

Can u beat my first and only attempt at public office - 557 votes. (Albeit as a Lib Dem in a rock solid Tory ward where the Tory who topped the poll got 2986!)

Bookseller said...

What is the shame with Jimmy Osmond if you still like Abba? Incidentally, if you were worried about peoples looks on the train, you should have taken off the Sombrero.

subrosa said...

Oh Iain you make me feel so old. Cliff's reunion? I even remember his first concert in Scotland and my first job was with a Scottish supermarket chain called Wm Low's where I worked on Saturdays. Happy days though.

Political Dissuasion said...

10p an hour?

If you speak to Harriet Harman, she might get you a reimbursement under the guise of age-equality pay-scales.

Worth a shot, would stop her banging on about the cr*p she's been spouting for the last 24hrs!

Lexander said...

I reckon meeting Shirly W must have had a big effect on you! Now stop this nonsense and get back to what you do better.

Simon Gardner said...

BNP candidate for Europe elections arrested on suspicion of selling illegal firearmsBy DAILY MAIL REPORTER
26th April 2009

A BNP candidate for the European elections has been arrested on suspicion of selling illegal firearms.

David Lucas, 48, who supports capital punishment and makes gallows for sale abroad, was arrested at his mother’s home in Suffolk on Thursday.

He has been released on bail. BNP officials said Lucas would still stand in the election on June 4.

Article here

Victor, NW Kent said...

Nothing worthwhile writing about? Except you?

Wrinkled Weasel said...

You will like this, Iain.

My first ever single, chosen by me and bought for me by my dad was...

Nine Times Out of Ten by Squiff Pilchard.

I used to practise it in front of the mirror with a flight bag and a broom handle for a guitar, and I can still do the curly lip thing.

When I finally met and interviewed Cliff, my knees went wobbly.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Oh, and my first job was washing dishes in a Chinese restaurant. My ability to mimic Cantonese/Mandarin is so good, I recently fooled a Singaporean who said, "Is that a dialect?" At which we dissolved into fits of laughter, since it was utter gibberish.

Anonymous said...

Laughing so hard, Browns just got snubbed on his way to a press conference with the pakistani president and Zandari cancels it.

Rofl, nobody wants to be seen dead with Brown.

Anonymous said...

even Better, Brown had actually arrived in Pakistan and was waiting to meet the President and then told to clear off.

http://www.politics.co.uk/news/foreign-policy/pakistani-president-snubs-brown-$1291123.htm

haddock said...

but what was your first list ?

Paul Halsall said...

I did mine at http://englisheclectic.blogspot.com/2009/04/twenty-firsts-meme.html

Meanwhile I will be really pissed, if after spending most of my adult life worrying about AIDS, if I died of the sodding 'flu.

Paul Halsall said...

@Wrinkled Weasel

Do you think you are the first to go down on his knees to pay homage to Sir Cliff?

Hamish said...

Your car insurance premiums must be sky-high. Give me advance warning if you're ever likely to be in charge of a vehicle up here.

Plato said...

Oh some people have no sense of humour.

Jimmy Osmond - YUKKKKKK. I sometimes see him on Tube posters and feel all creeped out.

Hmm, so this is Iain's blog, about Iain's opinions and preferences and it's not about him already?

Have I missed something?

Simon Gardner said...

Paul Halsall said... Do you think you are the first to go down on his knees to pay homage to Sir Cliff?Oi. When I said something similar about AN Other (non-out) Labour politician, it was immediately censored.

DespairingLiberal said...

Do you remember what you thought of Shirley Williams Iain? I always admired her, but also felt she was a bit too political to live up to her sincerity reputation - was curious on your first reactions.

Anonymous said...

Researcher for an MP is not a real job.

Anonymous said...

An orange Ford Cortina Mk III, lovingly nicknamed the Big Jaffa. I wrote it off on my 20th birthday.

I had a white one of those things once.

It handled like an space shuttle launcher.

Was as thirsty as a herd of diabetic wilder beasts.

Had the looks, stile and comfort of an iron sprung prison bed on casters.

The pussy pulling power of 5 day old BO. ( ok maybe this one did not bother you that much )

Some one lent it to me while my car was off the road, what in the hell was your excuse?

weggis said...

So, you drove a "Concertina"?

I recall they were the vehicle of choice for Ramraiders.