Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2009 | Page 37

OUT & ABOUT
deaf as a post,” says Mark.
“The school told my parents
I might not be quite as stupid
as they all thought – I just
couldn’t hear anything.”
The treatment prescribed
was the removal of his tonsils
and adenoids “at the same
time” he recalls ruefully. But
the effect of the operation was
miraculous. “I suddenly had
hearing like bionic man and
leaving the hospital I smelt cut
grass for the first time ever!”
The effects on his school life
were not so marked, however.
He left with three O levels and
with “the confidence beaten
out of me,” and moved with
his family to the Isle of Wight.
Economically things were not
unlike they are now, and his
parents urged him to go into
painting and decorating, based
on the unquestionable logic
that people always need their
homes painted. “Nowadays
when my mum proudly shows
visitors a picture of me filming
the queen I give her a look
which says ‘so you wanted me
to paint walls.’ “ He knew that
wasn’t a route he wished to go
down. “I kept saying I wanted
to be a cameraman.”
F