"My Mother worked for one of the leading theatrical costumiers in London during the early part of the fifties, so I was from the outset caught up, so to speak, in the most intimate workings of the Illusion Machine. Not many young boys knew about the inflatable bra of a particular Hollywood star and the problem of its wayward valves in the fitting room. My toy chests overflowed with the cast offs and oddments from a score of film and theatre productions. And all these years on I often wonder what happened to those chests. Maybe the unsolicited kiss that old crone gave me on the long seat of the red bus in Whalley Range has something to do with it? I was mesmerized by the sheer flurry of it all and receptive to everything that was weird and wonderful. Fact and Fiction were very much in contention and strange worlds could still be reached through the backs of cupboards, if you knew where to look. Bubble gum was made from everglades swamp water and that was a fact."