Today I promised Jon Hickman on Twitter a story about a mix tape. As it happens I have two, so here they are.

One

The year is 1985, Britain had just put the first man on the moon, spokey dokeys were revolutionising bicycle wheels, Margaret Thatcher had just released her first lingerie range and Sony had launched the much anticipated i-Walkman. It was a simpler time. I was travelling Africa in search for the perfect Roast Chicken Crisp and found myself in the North of the Congo. I had with me very little in the way of supplies since my rucksack was filled in the most part by the car battery that powered by brand new Sony i-Walkman. The heat was unbelievable. The Sahara Ocean had just been reclassified as a desert and as I continued on my journey I had nothing but the previous week’s radio 1 top 40 show to listen to. Edited of course since I had but a 60 minute tape, but I’d kept the best bits.

I was captured by the Umbongo tribe and subjected to the most torturous torture - Tubular Bells 3 (a pale shadow of the previous glories) on repeat on my i-Walkman. I got the feeling they were trying to fatten me up with constant drinks of Umbongo, but far from getting fat I simply got refreshed. Eventually came the day of judgement, I was dragged in front of the tribe’s elders and subjected to a pop music quiz of the UK top 40 from the previous week. What luck! Of course I got the questions about Bros wrong (victims of my zealous editing policy) but thankfully my score was good enough to see me through to the next round, then eventually to freedom. Sometimes I still wake up screaming, but thankfully the Bros songs quickly fade and I never have to regret the incorrect answers. God bless DLT and his beard.

Two

A little more grounded. It was the early 90s and I lived in Daventry. Daventry had just got electric and the gas lamp lighters were on strike again. I can’t remember how it was done now (how did cassettes work? I forget) but I used to cut clips from early Eddie Izzard shows in between each song on a mix tape. You laughed, you learnt a bit, then you got the Bluetones and life moved on. My parents STILL have some of these cassettes in their car. Lord knows why.