Twenty Firsts Meme

Well see what happens when you take a holiday Jonathan Calder no less links you in the 20 first meme. I've only just noticed as I went through the backlog of my email address over the weekend.


First Job: As a paper boy for a pipe smoking newsagent in Bangor. I covered for a friend for a week at the end of which I was offered a spot that had opened up. I ended up working there for 3 years and also about 2 weeks in had the responsibility of putting out the correct amount of papers for each route (an essential skill later in my political life)

First Real Job (Interesting that Mr Calder wrote for Chess magazine must see if I have any of his) My first real job outside Uni work was working for H. Samuel in Hammersmith. In started as a Christmas job and I got retained. There is a trend here emerging. In fact two subsequent jobs I started as casual or temp and was kept on permanently later on.

First Role in Politics Penrhyn Road Rep on Kingston Liberal Students exec, 1988-9.

First Car My little British racing green Hyundai Accent (called Padraig) . Which was sadly stolen from outside my flat in Whitburn

First Record The first single I was Duran Duran "Is there Something I Should Know?", first Album Michael Jackson "Thriller", first CD was Paul McCartney "The Best of".

First Football Match Was at Loftus Road on a school trip to London in 1984. First time I saw Liverpool play live was at Plough Lane I think in 1988-9 season. First time I saw Livingston play was against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup in 2001.

First Concert My first pop concert was Duran Duran on the their Notorious tour in the Kings Hall Belfast

First Country Visited Malta in the Summer of 1987

First TV Appearance Walking away from Portrush after the town centre was bombed.

First Political Speech I think it was at a either a London Region or LYDS conference in London sometime in the late 80s just can't remember which came first.

First Girlfriend/Boyfriend Well I did leave a valentines card on Joanne Cudworth's school bag after choir practice once. We ended up going to each other's birthday parties for a few years after that.

First Encounter with a Famous Person was meeting Downtown Radio DJ Candy Devine when aged 10 and we were recording a Radio slot for her show in one of the classrooms on a Saturday morning.

First Brush With Death Being in a mini on the way to a cross country race heading towards Belfast. Spinning across into the Bangor bound lanes just outside the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum. But thankful for the lights on the busiest stretch of 4 lane undivided carriageway road in Northern Ireland.

First House/Flat Owned I have yet to get my foot unto the property ladder. Closest I got was a little terrace 2 bed cottage in Woolfords Cottages, South Lanarkshire which might well have changed the political direction of my Scottish existence.

First Film Seen at a Cinema Superman.

First Time on the Radio Aged 10 singing on the Candy Devine show see above.

First Politician I Met The Rev Iain Paisley in Bangor market during the 1987 election campaign. He asked if I would be voting for him. I said no on two counts, first I was mere months too young and two I didn't agree with his politics. Yes I told the Rev he was wrong for the first time aged just 17.

First Book I Remember Reading One of the Paddington Bear series basically because I would underline the words I didn't know and look them up in my Collins Children's dictionary if it wasn't near me at the time..

First Visit to the London Palladium Whilst I have been to a number of London theatres in my 8 years there I never ventured to the Palladium. First theatre visited in London was St. Martin's Theatre to see The Mousetrap on a family holiday in 1984. By the way the murderer is......

Well Jonathan better late than never eh? I should really tag five more bloggers to complete this meme. But as many have already done it, if you haven't feel free to just fill it in.