I am currently studying for my PhD,and also on tour with Cradle to Rave -a musical Journey.
The wisdom of undertaking these two things has of course been continually on my mind.
Should I postpone the PhD til September when dust will have cleared? Or should I bludgeon on
doing gig after gig , eating post gig curry after post gig curry, waking up with post gig hangovers and then sitting in the post gig car feeling post gig sick, trying to do my post gig homework?
Today I attended a 'Making the most of your PhD' course at Royal Holloway -where the lady running the course very calmly addressed us by our first names and asked us about our job prospects and how 'transferable our skills' were in the job centre. She avoided eye contact with me obviously because she'd seen me on TV last saturday night along with 5.2 million other viewers as a little portuguese bloke put a paving stone on my chest and then smashed it to smithereens with a sledge hammer.
Despite being a man who clearly doesn't want to work in academia as a researcher , I'm enjoying my PhD experience because it's a challenge. It pushes me out of my comfort zone and shoves a big fat firework right up my bum and says - Yeah! Have that Premier Inn guy! Have some of that Katanga man! Get out of that Algernon Razamatazz....you better get yourself some educamacation ...give yourself something to fall back on; As Charlie Williams once told me - 'You're not everyone's cup o' tea lad...'
Maybe he was trying to tell me something...
Lenny Henry
Jan 2011
