The introduction

I was born in 1970 in Coventry, an industrial city in the middle of England. It's famous for its routes in the car industry, but in the 1970s, Coventry was a dark place. 

The 70's in the UK were a time of great unrest and rioting. Unemployment was sky rocketing and the economy was in disarray.

As a way of transcending the racial inequalities of the time the music genre Two Tone was bursting onto the scenes. The founder of Two Tone was Jerry Dammers who was lead singer of The Specials. They wrote the song Ghost Town about Coventry. They nailed it. It was. It seemed like a whole decade was swallowed up by a country wide depression. And I was born right at the beginning of it.

Coventry however is also famous for other things. During World War Two the city was decimated by the German bombing. To this day the Cathedral ruins stand defiantly as a message that the people of Coventry may get down but they don’t get broken. 

After it’s resurrected it was dubbed the city of the phoenix. Rising from the ashes. We will not be defeated. 

Unlike the music genre, my life has never been black and white. Sometimes I wish it had been. 

Like a Phoenix I've always had an inner burning desire to make me life have meaning because life in the suburbs in a tree lined avenue was not always what it seemed.

Counting my extended family, there was always angst around. Of all societies problems we had them all. 

I've always wanted to aspire to greater things. I didn't want to walk in their shoes. I wanted to design my own. I wanted the life I wanted. I wanted the experiences I wanted. My book tells the story of the life that was never grey.