Mon 22 Mar 2010

40 Responses to “ My big secret unhinted-at announcement. ”

Comments:

1. 
   Adrian says:
   March 22nd, 2010 at 10:44 am

   Oooohhh!!!

   (First!)

2. 
   Rosie says:
   March 22nd, 2010 at 11:00 am

   Bloody hell, congratulations!

3. 
   Lola says:
   March 22nd, 2010 at 11:18 am

   (From Amazon) “…he hopes to repeat this success both on the rock stage and on the bowling green. He is 39.”

   39? Really? I would have expected 40s at least. On reflection, you don’t go on about all the things that are wrong with your teeth, back, legs etc. so perhaps 39 is realistic.

   Although all rock stars lie about their age. Don’t know about bowlers, though.

4. 
   Jared says:
   March 22nd, 2010 at 11:32 am

   all together now: “Hello, Alex!”

5. 
   Ivan the Terrible says:
   March 22nd, 2010 at 11:49 am

   Alex? Who the fuck is Alex?

6. 
   Ivan the Terrible says:
   March 22nd, 2010 at 11:54 am

   Strangely sparse little bio there, too. Is that whole lack of achievement thing getting in the way again, Alex?

   Born in Essex and moved to Norfolk – thus raising the IQ of both…oh, no, wait, my mistake – actually just Essex…

7. 
   MB says:
   March 22nd, 2010 at 11:56 am

   I’m not falling for this Alex thing, I’m getting the Sunday Times’ best dirt diggers on unearthing the real you!!!!

   According to Amazon, “people who bought this also bought, GWAOTM”. Who would have thunk that eh?

8. 
   Queenie says:
   March 22nd, 2010 at 12:01 pm

   Ooh get YOU!!! Congratulations!

9. 
   Deirdre says:
   March 22nd, 2010 at 12:08 pm

   Wow. And, congratulations. And, lots of other stuff as well. Off to Amazon!

10. 
    JonnyB says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 12:16 pm

    Thank you everybody. The ironic thing is that I AM NOT EVEN BLOODY 39 YET. Because I forgot that it would be on there before it was actually available, if you see what I mean.

    I will write a bit more about it tomorrow. And then probably go on about it every day for the next grillion years.

11. 
    Megan says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 1:46 pm

    Congratulations on the successful delivery and, if I may point out, there are post-natal classes these days that do wonders with those pesky last 10 lbs.*

    *Except those that come by the insidious action of “The Odd Pint” which are, decades of experimentation has shown, entirely unshiftable so good luck with that.

12. 
    Non-workingmonkey says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 2:37 pm

    This is “literally”* the best news I have ever heard. You will be a top-selling author and I can talk about how I know you, etc. It will be like knowing Lord Jeffrey Archer, but with better books and higher moral standards.

    * pun intended!!!!

13. 
    guyana gyal says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 3:23 pm

    If this were true, I’d be over the moon excited for you but you’ve pulled our legg so often I don’t know.

    I mean, I’m really, really excited and I want a copy, and I will shamelessly say so on my humble little blog, hoping someone would buy it for me [as I don't own a credit card right now]…if all this were true.

    So please say it is.

    OMG. It looks as though it is true!!!

14. 
    Hamish says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 3:58 pm

    So is the missus up the duff or no?

15. 
    alexoutside says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 4:01 pm

    Congratulations! Looking forward to reading it. Hope this doesn’t mean that the privatesecretdiary will come to an end…

16. 
    Damian says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    You let me call you Johnny to your bloody face. At two different events!

    And you are so 39 – you look older than me with your George Clooney salt and pepper hair and rugged outdoorsman’s bowling arms.

    Bloody bloggers. You can’t trust any of them.

    Actually, we can trust Anna Pickard. She has an honest ring to her.

    (At least until she finally publishes her toilet reading book and announces that her real name is Zoe Sanderson or Catherine Margolis, or she’s really a tubby bloke named Derek.)

    For the sake of Baby Serverlan I wish you every success.

17. 
    Ivan the Terrible says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 4:32 pm

    You are right to be sceptical, MB. After all, googling the name does not produce any returns of suitable pre-eminence to be our own beloved Jonny.

    Unless of course he’s this guy. I’d hate to live in a world where that could be true…

18. 
    Richard says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 4:32 pm

    Oh, well done. Proper publisher an’ all, not one of those staple-it-yourself jobs that everyone else does. Is the launch in the Village Pub?

19. 
    Katy Newton says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 4:49 pm

    What NWM said, except for the bit about Lord Archer.

20. 
    Huw says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 4:52 pm

    I always read you as being more of an Alex.

21. 
    tillylil says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 5:01 pm

    It’s a boy then cos it’s got balls, sorry I mean bowls.

22. 
    JonnyB says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 5:57 pm

    Damian – you mean your real name is ‘Damian’?!? *confused*

    NWM: Truly your puns light up the entire internet.

    Right – it is up on Amazon now ( http://bit.ly/aFq9Zs ) and currently rising high in the BOWLS, BOWLING AND PETANQUE category. This is the big time, my friends… the big time.

23. 
    A Quiver says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 6:59 pm

    Well played, Colonel! You could bowl me over with a chicken feather. Well, okay, not really. It’s not really all that surprising. I mean, what are the odds that a talent such as yours could go unrecognised indefinitely? Nil. I hope you become obscenely rich. Is it true that Clooney is up for the lead? Now THAT would be yummy.

    Regards to the SuperChickens

    Aquiver no more

24. 
    MissT says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 7:23 pm

    I feel most pleased for you, I cannot imagine a book about bowls that I would rather read.

25. 
    Brennig says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 7:59 pm

    But anyone who can operate a whois search has known for ages who you are. And the bowls-playing was a bit of a self-confession (from which I’m still unsure I’ve recovered).

    But congratulations on the imprint!

26. 
    Miss Red says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 8:09 pm

    Bowls? BOWLS??

    oh. er. I thought you said bowels. Sorry, wrong blog!

27. 
    Dave says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 8:26 pm

    When do I get the royalties?

28. 
    spazmo says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 9:04 pm

    This is great, Jonn…er…Alex.

    But I can’t shake this feeling of disorientation, as if you had sat me down and told me I was adopted.

    What to believe now? Next you’ll be telling us that Short Tony is one of the Harlem Globetrotters.

29. 
    Mr Farty says:
    March 22nd, 2010 at 9:45 pm

    Oh, my word! Congratulations and that.

    Where the feck is Norfolk?

30. 
    susan says:
    March 23rd, 2010 at 3:27 am

    so is the ltlp expecting?!!!!!

31. 
    kermit says:
    March 23rd, 2010 at 5:03 am

    I feel I’ve been duped and hoodwinked all these years. You should change your name to Jonny Billericay, like the Internet originally intended, to appease the befuddlement of the the masses.I suppose Mr. Mitt’s name isn’t really Mr. Mitt, either?

    Also, I am inclined to deduce that 39 is your pant size, or the size of your fomer(?) super secret hidden bookcase, not your age.

32. 
    kermit says:
    March 23rd, 2010 at 5:04 am

    P.S. Congratulations on the book, obviously. It took far too long.

33. 
    Martin Q says:
    March 23rd, 2010 at 10:38 am

    Spazmo has hit the nail on the head. I was going to liken it to discovering that Santa is actually just a man called Cedric sent to this particular grotto by the job centre.

    Also, Brennig has made me realise what a rubbish stalker I am, which is annoying! I have recovered some ground by discovering a photo on the book of faces which (a) confirms the head largeness but (b) makes Jonn-er-Alex look considerably more with-it than you’d expect. Again, rather a let-down!

    This book had better be good. (And, not, for example, rehashed entries from the blog.)

34. 
    Martin Q says:
    March 23rd, 2010 at 10:45 am

    Also, your “Contact me” page claims “I am too dignified to join my own Appreciation Society.” Yet now all the world can see this is completely untrue! Hah – I feel like I have uncovered a real-world scandal now. Can’t decide whether to tweet this or comment it. Perhaps this level of scandal demands both.

35. 
    Mr Wheeliebin says:
    March 23rd, 2010 at 2:21 pm

    Zoiks! At last a photo of the Scooby-doo door. It looks/looked fantastic.

36. 
    Leslie says:
    March 23rd, 2010 at 7:00 pm

    Well. I wrote you a lovely comment earlier in which I told you I’ve pre-ordered the book. And now you’ve dumped my comment. (Along with several others I remember reading.) Wish I had my $12 back.

    Signed,
    Poor Loser

37. 
    JonnyB says:
    March 23rd, 2010 at 7:24 pm

    Hm.

    I certainly don’t delete comments – even rubbish ones and certainly not nice ones.

    The site crashed yesterday late afternoon (my time). It wasn’t just before then, was it?

    Otherwise I’m a bit stumped…

38. 
    JonnyB says:
    March 23rd, 2010 at 8:50 pm

    Er – Leslie? You are looking at the wrong post. Your comment is right there where you left it, on the following day’s post.

39. 
    Dave the bad singer says:
    March 24th, 2010 at 3:20 am

    Congrats on the book Alex and also to your other half. I tweeted you about that the other day, so I guessed correctly!

    Now. About those royalties…

40. 
    Saltation says:
    March 25th, 2010 at 10:55 pm

    >‘belle curve’

    love it.

    and congrats on the book — hope it goes well, mate.