1084Today’s subject suggested we take his photograph in the Blue Peter garden in Shepherd’s Bush, London. He wrote: “When asked to think of something interesting that Someone Once Told Me I wracked my brains for some bon mot or other, perhaps from a relative or some wise old Professor, but in vain. Person-to-person, I've not been 'told' much which visitors to this site would find moving or thought-provoking.

“For me, that's all come from books, music and films. I tried to think of some lesson I'd learned in life, and who I'd learnt it from, and the phrase ‘Life's What You Make It’ kept popping into my head. It's a song lyric from the mid 80s, by a band called Talk Talk, and it was a hit around the time I was preparing to leave college and make my way in the world.

“I'd studied Politics for my degree, which was all about great systems and models for achieving this and that, but as I turned my mind to getting a job and trying to make it in the real world it became clear we all had to stand on our own feet. It's true: Life's What You Make It.”