Where to start with this lovely, brilliant, hilarious hurricane of a man. Nic has only been in my life for the last few years but it feels like we have been friends my whole life. His voice, his experiences, his cultural touchstones, his worldview are all as familiar to me as English ale. And like real ale a few hours spent with the man give me a wonder-ful glow, and a headache (just kidding mate!).

By any objective measure Nic has led a fascinating life. Like any skil-ful raconteur, Nic has the gift of being able to package up its stories and chapters and present them with a full spectrum of emotion; happiness to heartbreak. Listen to this interview to understand what I mean. He got his start in publishing via charm, conversation, insight and smarts. He dreamed up a successful magazine, seemingly on the spur of the mo-ment, made it happen. I loved the story he tells here about how the name came to him and I love how he has lived a rich life alert to opportuni-ty, alive to possibility. And I love the way he has acted on these op-portunities to be a success in his business, a lesson in the ancient art of charm and the blag.

Nic is one of my spacemen who understood the ideas behind Heliosphere immediately, appreciated what it is I’m trying to do and agreed without hesitation to be marooned out past Pluto on Deep Space Station Gideon. I knew immediately that this would be a cracking interview, (with a crack-ing soundtrack!). This was reinforced when I read the eloquent, deeply personal pro forma he returned to me. It reads almost like a letter, frequently using my name to address me directly with his thoughts and emotions.

More than anyone else thus far, the horrible isolation at the very edge of our solar system provoked reactions I often felt guilty to trigger. The tears he cried here were the natural tears of a dedicated husband and father for whom the mere thought of separation from his loved ones was almost too much to bear. Again Nic, I apologise for putting you through this!

Listen then as an eloquent man with a ‘proper’ accent, ‘modern’ sensi-bilities and full access to his emotions goes deep into the adventure that leads him to his life today. But don’t listen if you have a sensi-tivity to fruity language, particularly the ‘F-bomb’.

Purely because Father Christmas kindly delivered this into my stocking – Christmas 76/77. It needs to be noted that I have remained a massive fan ever since – and this style of music has had a heavy influence and still does. Although I am more than mod than rocker I have a huge soft spot for this genre of music. Perhaps it is the simple vocals and the guitar based sound.

To pick a track is a journey it itself and this process has allowed me to discover the joys of this collection – so I would have to pick the track that for me is the essence of rock n roll – simple structure, a tune that goes in and out and with a guitar solo supported by a double bass structure. Man what a tune with punch lyr