My video and The Making of Me

Well, I've done it. Someone said something, I got curious and the result is I have completed a "video" for Youtube all on my own. You might want to fall apart laughing but here is the link -
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Iy7QehG-a6c


I've done it, but I'm not sure I could repeat the process! If it gives a flavour of the book, if it makes anyone want to read it, then perhaps I ought to think hard and do more! One for Banners of Alba, and I could prepare others for the books patiently waiting in the pipeline. Except that that might be the kiss of death - perhaps I'll wait until I have a contract!

First it was John Barrowman, then Colin Jackson and last night Vanessa Mae in a programme called The Making of Me. I find it fascinating, and you might too. It is the old argument of Nature v Nurture. The first programme brought up an interesting theory on why homesexuals are as they are - not genes, not upbringing, but a hormonal imbalance while the infant is in the womb. Too little testosterone for a male, or too much for a female can make the child "different." The theory make sense, but I can see that mothers will not want to feel they are to blame for their child's orientation.

As for Colin, he was born with 25% super fast twitch muscles, way above the level you or I might own. But without all his hard work, perseverance and a supportive family and environment, those muscles would have done very little for him.

Vanessa Mae admits she did not have a normal childhood. Immersed in music from age four, she finally broke loose from her mother at the age of twenty one and has not spoken to her for eight years. As I understood the programme there is nothing Vanessa was born with that has led to her being a maestro and worth 30 million today - except, perhaps, that she has very sensitive hearing. The rest is down to thousands of practice hours, an excessive drive for perfection and an extrovert personality that thrives on risk.