In October of this year, I spent a balmy evening talking with Alan Moore on the week that he had two — count ’em!— new books on the…

In the captivating autobiography Colum recounts his extraordinary experiences, starting, as a very young boy, at The White Horse Inn outside Derry, where his father was the last tenant barman in the old coach house.In the early days of rock‘n’roll he learned to play the guitar and soon became a professional musician, touring with the Gay McIntyre band, in the company of his best friend Gerry Anderson, who shared a small bed sit with him in Manchester, when the band was resident there for a year. Colum then went on to play with Ireland’s first Showband, The Clipper Carlton, Derry band The Woodchoppers and then across the Atlantic with the Emeralds who pioneered the Irish showband scene in America.Returning home, he formed the rock band Toejam with Gerry Anderson and Jim Whiteside. With their hard aggressive style accompanying Gerry’s soaring high pitched vocals, they very quickly became a musical force which attracted many fans both North and South of the border. They played live on radio and TV programmes and in Dublin a fledging U2 played support to them, Colum started Derry’s first recording studio which became an instant success with local bands and soloists. When BBC Northern Ireland heard about this, he was invited to present a programme using some of the material he had collected on BBC Radio Foyle, which had just started broadcasting in the Northwest. This was the start of his radio career which has lasted over forty years and continues to this day. He presented many programmes on BBC Radio Foyle and BBC Radio Ulster and when he progressed to the role of producer his long list of achievements includes a two-hour documentary for BBC Radio 2 on the history of Irish Showbands.In the book there are many stories of intimate behind-the-scenes moments of radio broadcasting for BBC Northern Ireland.

ALT: two cherries with smiley faces painted on them on a white background

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