Mark is from Lichfield (from the Latin, "field of the dead"), which, according to rumour, was the first place that Black Sabbath ever played live.

The first concert he went to was Def Leppard, the second Metallica and the third was Paradise Lost. This contrasts somewhat to his earliest musical memories of Edith Piaf and Simon and Garfunkel.

Trained in classic heavy metal guitar, he now listens to anything from The Rolling Stones to The Next Men or Lemon Jelly to The Lemonheads.

He spends his time teaching the guitar, trying to get 300 points in a single bowling frame and is planning to see every band and singer of note in the world.

For the priviledge of having a crap degree he now owes the world £16,000. His favourite film is The Big Lebowski.