From Profile Photos

Fig.1 Mork and me

Promoted to being a ‘school prefect’ in my late teens at the RGS, Newcastle and required to keep a line of 11 year olds in order during morning assembly I would repeatedly hear mutterings and giggles of the line “Nanno Nanno” behind my back: ‘Mork and Mindy’ was on TV at the time and I supposedly looked like the main character played by Robin Williams. Only by doing that thing that Robin Williams did with his fingers when greeting Ork would this lot be satisfied. That was 1979.

35 years later I’m in the Senior Common Room at the University of Birmingham and a fellow graduate student asks “Do you know who you look like?” (we’d obviously got bored with talking about the First World War). I tell the above story. Whether or not hair or glasses or smirk are similar, I am a) not as hairy b) not funny c) six inches taller d) manic, but never depressed e) can’t grow a beard f) ten years younger and g) English.