I am a super hero, super fan. A true Marvel geek J I spent my childhood fantasising about what type of vigilante I could be and in fact my best friend and I used to sneak out at nights and roam the streets looking for trouble. Heaven knows what we'd have done had we found it!
Julie Shaw
I was such a bossy boots in junior school - I would finish my own work first and then go round the tables putting ticks or crosses on the other children's work, that my teacher, Mr McKay gave me a special desk to go to at the back of the room for when I'd finished, and he told me to write him a book. I loved this idea and worked every day for a term on it. When I left the school at age 11, Mr McKay presented me with a leather bound copy of 'The Boy With the Strange Green Eyes,' my first ever novel.
I have a serious aversion to watching people eat. It drives me crazy, and especially if I hear eating sounds too. My poor husband dare not even attempt to eat an apple or a pack of crisps in my presence.
I was brought up on council estates and even now I still can't be comfortable living in the suburbs. I'd much rather live on an estate where everybody knows each other, speaks to each other, and looks out for one another. Hate only having nodding neighbours.
I once got through two auditions as a singer on Britain's Got Talent.
I would LOVE to take part in Big Brother. I am a reality TV fan and watch every BB episode. In fact, at the end of a series I actually feel bereft!
As a child, I loved appearing in pantomime and musicals and I was invited to London to audition for Annie, despite my parents having no money to get me there. In the end they borrowed some money from an uncle, assuring him I'd get the part and it would all be worth it. I got stage fright, couldn't speak or sing a note and didn't get the part.
I was a secondary school teacher for a while and once went to Salou for a holiday. For a joke in a bar one night, I flashed my boobs at my husband, just as a photographer was taking snaps for a magazine called 'Salou nights.' After the summer I went back to work and a pupil approached me and asked me for a cigarette. I told him off and was about to give him a detention when he produced a copy of Salou nights from his school bag and opened it to reveal me on a full page, boobs showing, and a headline which read, Naughty teacher hits our wall of shame! He didn't get a cigarette, but neither did he get a detention. I swapped that for the magazine!
I survive on 4 hours of sleep per night. I write until about 2.00am, then watch TV to unwind for an hour or so, then sleep till 7.30am. I don't know why, I have always done this.
Despite doing a fair bit of travelling, my favourite place in the world is Benidorm. We have a holiday home there and try to get over as often as we can. I intend to write a book based on all the fantastic characters we have met over there over the years.
