I spoke to Bill Bryson

I had been singing at Windsor and was spending last Monday wandering relatively aimlessly around London before a meeting the next day in Teddington. I had just taken a long "one of those snacks you have between lunch and tea (what are they called?)" in Borders bookshop cafe and was off on my wanderings again when I saw Bill Bryson wander over to a table next to the Cafe accompanied by a shop assistant with a pile of The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. I decided to get a copy signed for Wendy but wanted to make some remark about how I'd enjoyed his book The Lost Continent. Of course I immediately forgot the name of the book, so I had to hide round the corner for five minutes until it came to me!

When I went up for a book signing I was the only one who seemed to have noticed him and he said: "Have you been wandering around London hoping to bump into me?" Which was strange as I had been wandering around London looking for a present for Wendy and a signed book by Bill Bryson was just the ticket!

I told him how I had taken the The Lost Continent on holiday with my wife and how I had laughed out loud with it so much that she had to keep nudging me as I was embarrassing her! He said: "Well, thank you very much!"