And we have lift-off ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first man on the Moon .. seems so long ago, doesn't it? Probably because it is! Fifty three years ago today to be precise. But what exciting times they were, especially to a nearly-nine year old like myself. I was absolutely fascinated by 'Space', forever gluing Airfix Lunar Modules to papier mâché 'moon surfaces' whilst watching James Burke and Patrick Moore explaining the intricacies of forthcoming 'TLI' manoeuvres. I did a lot of reading, too. The Observer Book of Astronomy and the Peter Fairley Space Annual were never far from my side ..

Which brings me to a new book about 'Space', one which I've written myself. I say 'one', but it's actually the first in a series of four adventure books I've created for children and which I'm thrilled to launch today ..

"Swapsies" is my story of The Sun and The Moon and The Earth, and of how The Moon helps The Sun to find all its friends in Space. The books are educational yet funny, and I'm very proud to say I did all the illustrations, too. I'll be reading from Swapsies at a book event this Sunday in our local park, and I hope it's soon filling a space on the bookshelves of many a wide-eyed new young space enthusiast ..

( If you'd like a copy, you can click here to order .. )

Three, two, one .. lift off!

One Last Giant Leap...

A quick word to mention the passing of Neil Armstrong, the one true hero of my childhood years.

I was mad on space travel, and spent every hour I could either reading about it, drawing pictures of rockets, building papier mache 'lunar surfaces' to land my Airfix Lunar Module on or watching Peter Fairley explain in detail how LOS happened once the Command Module was round the back of the moon. (That's Loss of Signal, but you knew that, right?) I never got to meet the man, though I did get to photograph his Space Suit, which came to visit Manchester once (I know, amazing, aren't they?) and I had it put into a red phone box on King Street in Manchester with the caption 'Armstrong calling' (Or something like that!)...

So there we go! Another of the 'greats' has gone to the Sea of Tranquility! RIP Neil, and here's a shot to give us all a wee smile on a sad day. It's me old 'model' mate Moanin' Minnie, who accompanied me on a six month trip around the world.  My one 'orbit' of our planet...

Back to the future...

42 years! That's how long it is now since man first landed on the moon! To the day! (Well, we always used to say July 21st in the UK, but that's 'cos we were 6 hours ahead of Houston time!) Safe to say though that, 42 years ago tonight, Neil Armstrong uttered his famous and, apparently mistaken, line about small steps and giant leaps and what have you! I was nine years old, and absolutely fascinated by the whole project, but it's hard to imagine such excitement now, eh? The moon? Forget it! Bloody hell, even Concorde got the chop, and we're back to 7 hour flights across the Atlantic.

Well, I see now photographers are offering, for a fee, to shoot a selection of your Wedding Photography On Film! Cripes! Did someone push the 'Reverse' button here?

Oh, the picture today? That's my little model friend Minnie! We travelled around the world together, and stopped off for a 'snap' with this Apollo Saturn V rocket! Check out her 'trip' here.....