So how does one put themselves in the position of writing a future Costa/Folio/Catchphrase award-winning humour tome?

Like most things, it was a series of weird coincidences and hand-jobs And by hand-jobs I obviously mean hand-jobs. I really enjoy writing fake letters. I'm not sure why. My childhood was traditional and my drug intake fairly mild. But I had produced a number of such things including Werner Herzog, George Orwell and Mark E. Smith for Sabotage Times. All fake letters, one of which people seemed to like.

Also for Sabotage Times, one day, I popped along to interview the delightful David Gedge from The Wedding Present. He was promoting his book Valentina, about the making of the album. The gentleman from his publishing house, Scott, was also in attendance. I said to him, as he left, 'Oh I've got an idea for a book, I write these fake letters'. He gave me his card, I sent over the idea and he said, 'Ok then'.

I know it shouldn't be that easy and there should be some heartache or limb loss at some point in the story, but there wasn't. In fact the whole process (to this point) has been a remarkably easy, even-tempered affair. If only John Kennedy Toole had the opportunity to interview The Wedding Present after he'd written Confederacy of Dunces, he'd be up and running and appearing on BBC 4 as we speak.