I never wanted to be a motoring journalist in the same way I never wanted to be an astronaut or a Hollywood A-lister. There is no point wanting something entirely beyond your reach. To the teenage me, motoring journalists – at least those whose content I devoured with a voracity that bordered on the obsessional – were super stars. They all worked for Car magazine with names I’d never have forgotten even if I’d not found a way into the business: Mel Nichols, Steve Cropley, Leonard Setright, Steady Barker, George Bishop…
So only wanting to drive and only being able to write, I left school without an idea of what to do with my life. I had no A-levels worthy of the mention, so university was out, but was so lacking self-awareness and so abrim with inadequacy it genuinely never occurred to see if I could combine my passion with my sole modest talent.
