Things to Blog About in 2011 Part One: Sport, Loughton and the theatre

SO WHAT'S THIS ALL ABOUT?

In the absence of any sort of original greeting: hello and welcome to my blog. I am a long time blog reader, first time blog ... er ... blogger. I work in digital media in London, which means that the blogosphere has been part of my world for a long time now so I thought it was about time that I contributed rather than just posting other people's content on Twitter and Facebook.

WHO ARE YOU THEN?

I am 30 (just!) and not yet married but living very happily with my lovely girlfriend in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, which is just down the road from where I grew up in Loughton. Loughton was my first experience of life, so I feel it should also be the first subject in my blog; let me tell you a bit about it.

For centuries just a stop off on the road from London to Cambridge, Loughton was most famous for being next to the Epping Forest, planted by Henry VIII to provide an environment in which he and his Tudor mates could hunt wild boar. But when the Victorians connected a railway line from Liverpool Street, the place exploded as a desired escape from the hustle and bustle of the capital and quickly became a home for artists, writers and bohemian types who fled to its picturesque hills for inspiration and from which, on a clear day, one can see all the way across the Thames to Crystal Palace- views that lead the writer Ruth Rendell to nickname the pretty north west part of the town 'Little Cornwall' ("Loughton" comes from the Anglo Saxon meaning "low town").

After the war, the railway line turned into a Central line connection to London Underground and the town grew and grew to reach a population of over 30,000 today. But the migrants still come from London, though these days as part of the infamous Golden Triangle of Essex with Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill (they are more or less the same place), it's more professional footballers and tanning salons that come to Loughton rather than writers and artists. Have you ever had the misfortune of seeing ITV's The Only Way Is Essex? Then you get the idea. Too much money, not enough sense. That's Loughton in 2011. A town of historical and cultural contradictions- both rich and desolate at the same time. I blame Thatcher for the desolation myself, but more of that later.

I AM SURE THAT'S ALL FASCINATING BUT WHY SHOULD I CARE?

Because I am a strong believer that environment shapes character, so to understand who I am and what I want to blog about- you have to know where I am from. You see, all those creative types that came to South West Essex in the 19th century left their influence with countless amateur dramatics societies set up across the region and as a result my first love was always theatre and that is my parents' fault. They have been involved in plays and shows (mainly Gilbert & Sullivan but let's not go there just yet) since they were teenagers growing up in the same area. I grew up going to dress rehearsals, helping to build and strike sets and helping Mum and Dad learn their lines. This lead to me eventually acting, singing and *gulp* dancing myself. A stint at a professional theatre school followed with some bits and pieces jobs on stage and TV. I am the berk in the striped rugby shirt in the video below from October 1991 ...

But I gave up the professional stuff when I was 14. Acting as a job wasn't for me- not enough stability. My future was normal school and the fine institution of Redbridge Drama Centre in South Woodford where acting could be a hobby- and I have learned ten times more about drama in one year at RDC than I ever did at stage school. Apart from five years away at university and in a band, I have been appearing in plays there ever since 1995. The Centre and the people there are a hugely important part of my life that I wouldn't do without. Hopefully I and the others for whom RDC is such a crucial thing won't have to ... but the coalition and their cuts for the arts may have other plans. Again, more about that later.

SO IS THIS GOING TO BE A BLOG ABOUT THE THEATRE THEN?

Not really. I also love following sport, especially football and cricket. Football means West Ham United because all my family support them and despite competition from Spurs, Leyton Orient and Arsenal- they are still the preferred local team round here. If you follow football you will know that the situation down at Upton Park is all a bit depressing at the moment so we'll skate over that for now. Cricket means Essex CCC and heroes from Trevor Bailey and Barry Knight in my dad's day through to Graham Gooch, Mark Waugh and Nasser Hussain in my childhood and Alistair Cook, Ravi Bopara and Ryan Ten Doeschate today. It is the greatest sport in the history of the world so you may hear about that a lot on this blog. In fact it's the only loyalty that I have to my home county these days- most of the blokes that grow up around here dreaming of hair straighteners and designer labels far more than scoring a century at Chelmsford. Such is life.

IS THAT IT THEN, BECAUSE THIS IS MEANT TO BE A BLOG POST- NOT A NOVEL ...

Yes, yes, alright. I have gone on long enough for now. Theatre, cricket, local issues and football are three of the subjects that will be covered here. The biggest passions of my life though are arguably politics and music, so I will leave those for another time. Hope to see you again.

LS.