Every character has an origin story. 

Every character thinks they are the superhero, even if the rest of the world sees them as the villain.

The Antidotes is a book that took 7 years to come to fruition, but the idea behind it has been lurking in the back of my head for decades.

Back in the early 1990s, I went from struggling financially, never having enough money to pay bills, then landing a job with the Inland Revenue as a trainee tax inspector. A respectable job in the eyes of my parents, tailored suits, a disjointed love life and an economic recession.

This was two years of massive life changes. Money in the bank, hanging out with my mates working at HMRC, BT and the Institute of Cancer Research. I wanted to document all the highs and lows of the time. The original version ended up being a weighty 120,000 words. Technically accurate but missed the heart of what I wanted to say about the meaning of life.

2019 – I’d come to the conclusion that it was better to capture the feeling and the essence, rather than go for a line-by-line retelling of crazy events, even if it meant the work was a far slimmer, leaner book. So, whilst Red Car is a retelling of an event about the perils of drinking and driving (95% truth – Dick lying down and spinning is a slight exaggeration), Ticket to Ride captures the emotions I felt sitting an exam, but is not factually accurate (I did not piss my pants).

I’d performed these 2 poems at poetry nights, and they had gone down well.

2020 – the pandemic put the world on pause. The humour I wanted to evoke needed space to thrive. Something not conducive to the Lockdown. Other writing took precedence. Those compressed emotions and survival mechanisms became Last Song of the Universe and Wide Awake in Dream Land poetry collections.

2022 – Everything stopped after my cancer diagnosis.

2025 – Finally given the all clear. People kept asking me when I was going to write about my cancer journey. My response was that I didn’t want to dwell on it. I didn’t want it to define me.

Also, I started wearing suits again after years of making other sartorial choices. TV appearances, award ceremonies, and power meetings require a certain dresscode in order to be taken seriously. Plus, I own 22 ties and more suits than I have pairs of jeans. Even when I dabbled with stand-up comedy, the event organisers said, ‘Hey, the things you talk about would be enhanced by wearing a suit.’

2026 – tailored suits, cancer analysis, highs and lows, the meaning of life. I finally had a reason and the space to return and complete the Antidotes.

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Why is the book called The Antidotes?

The Avengers was already taken, and a pint in the pub or social club after a hard day’s work was the perfect antidote.

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The Antidotes poetry collection will be available in 2026.