I went to the University of East Anglia (UEA) to study philosophy in 1977: I’d been listening to jazz rock music and started to write some tunes; by the second year I’d met Phil Smith (sax) and Marc Fox (percussion), and together with Jon Franks (drums) and Ron (bass) we put together a band. I got an H&H amplifier and Korg MS10 mono synth on HP, and found someone to lend me a Fender Rhodes. We did parties, the OU over a summer and country fairs, as well as a recording, often augmented with Roger Jackson on poly synth (later to work with Robyn Hitchcock).

The other main band at UEA at the time were The Higsons, led by 'Switch' (Charlie Higson), they were much more in yer face than we were, and didn't think much of what we did. (Later had a few beers with Higson, Paul Whitehouse and TRB drummer Steve Laurie in the artists bar at the Edinburgh Festival when I was with Tom Robinson: they had written the material for Harry Enfield who was playing the main Assembly Rooms hall.)

I shall always be grateful to my friend Katie Venner for organising us and subsequently ensuring I was gainfully employed when we move to London.

We played a few gigs in London, and I did various jobs, becoming a TEFL teacher as well as playing solo gigs in bars and pubs.After that, Phil and Marc got together with three school mates from Croydon to form Haircut 100 and did really well with their first album.