The eldest of three siblings to Irish working class parents living in Manchester, England. Richard Brian Nicholas Bookmark, a name that is such a mouthful his parents gave him the acronym Ribban (RBN) instead, is a child unable to find his way in life.

His near untimely arrival in the bath tub was merely a foretaste of things to come. Fortunately for him his mother did not throw the baby out with the bathwater, but more often than not he wished she had!

Poverty is a serious business, making light of hardtimes is not!