Topic 1 had probably gone as well as I could have hoped. Full from cover to cover with the same subject matter from start to finish, it’s a rare moment of consistency and persistence from the childhood Shepherd. It even manages to tell what seems to be an actual story with a beginning, a middle and an end, in exactly the right number of pages, before the school exercise book runs out. It’s relatively neat and tidy, copying the source material with minimal mistakes, while simultaneously adding a slight personal touch. Reading the original book it was copied from might very well not be any more informative or entertaining. It was a model Topic book. I must have had similar hopes for Topic 2. But they’re dashed straight away. I’m not talking about the messy Contents page or the scribbled-on cover. I mean this page here. Nothing wrong with it necessarily in itself - it’s neat and informative - I’m sure it’s just as useful as the original I obviously copied it from. But it’s clearly not going to last. The idea’s wrong for a start. I’d already done the entire story of the dinosaurs. What made me think I should tell it all over again? Clearly I’m copying a different book this time, but it’s also clear this is going to be a lot more detailed. Too detailed, in fact. So detailed, my pencil starts running out before I even get to the bottom of the page. Obviously, someone - maybe me, maybe my teacher - thought the first dinosaur book was a little below my skill level, and I should try something a bit harder. Was this too advanced for me? Probably not. But it might have been more time-consuming. And since I already knew everything I needed to know about the dinosaurs, there was no way this was going to keep my attention for long. Especially not when it was going to involve me drawing so many boring old plants. I don’t know whether it’s that, or the simple practicality of the book not being available, that made me switch subjects so quickly afterwards. But this is the only page I copied from that book. I returned to dinosaurs briefly a few weeks later. But it wasn’t long before they evolved into something new.

January 1980

Dinosaurs: 1

Dinosaurs 1 Space Travel Ships Sport Dinosaurs 2 Judge Dredd: The Blood of Satanus Captain Carnivore A-Maze-Ing! Star Poster: Super Jesus The Micronauts: Giant Karza The Origin of Electro Optical Illusion Time Frantic Thingies Men in Space Topic Book Word Find Puzzleman Evel Knievel: Fury Falls More Puzzlers Star Poster: The Hulk 1 Grobschnitt’s Page Captain Starlight Star Poster: The Hulk 2 The Yellyog Gang The Adventures of Puzzlemaster Jupe Woman Line Pin-Up: Doctor Doom Lazer Lash The Human Maze Three Squares Raven Mad Marvel Sketches Robschnitt’s Age: 1 Snotty Notty Space Battles Metalorian Man Robschnitt’s Age: 2 The Superhero Sports Day Captain Kirk & Pywal Carbo-Catalogue How Dumb Are You? The Space Invaders: 1 Pin-Up: The Empire Strikes Back The Space Invaders: 2 Gi-Gant-Ic! Index

< Front cover

TERM 1 A day-by-day account of Waen’s first term at Fairburn School

TERM 2 The birth of the 1980s - Blake’s 7, Blondie and battles in space

ENGLISH 1 A few tentative steps into a world of terrible writing

Space Travel >