The original JonnyB's Private Secret Diary ran for almost a decade from 2004. For years I wrote it every weekday, which I still can’t quite believe now.

It was a little thing that sort of shuffled in bewilderment as it found itself becoming one of the most popular British blogs on the internet. It’s probably best to remember that a lot fewer people had heard of the Internet then. But even so, it was a bit of a wondrous and slightly stupefying time, and gave me the opportunity to poke my head nervously round lots of newly-open doors.

JonnyB was part nom-de-plume, part comic character, but mainly the internal narrative playing out in my head. ‘A Modern Day Mr Pooter’ – Independent on Sunday. People still occasionally ask why I finally retired him; sooner or later a character has to develop or die slowly via endless repeats and I wanted to leave him in his glory days. That and the kids were born, my life changed, and I didn’t want to become a dadblogger.

Anyway, it’s archived here for your enjoyment and my nostalgia – there’s also a copy somewhere in the British Library, I understand. Pick a few posts at random or rummage through the entire ten years if you want to see somebody gradually learning to write.