Treemendous Ambition
Books, kids, TV shows – Bennett’s done plenty. But he still wants more!
There is a famous saying: “Every man should plant a tree, have a child and write a book.” This saying has been attributed to the artist Picasso, the Cuban poet Jose Martí, the writings of The Talmud and S Club 7. Whatever the source, and putting the slight sexism to one side, all that’s left for me to do from this list is some tree planting.
In fact, as I have doubled up on the other requirements I might now have to plant 2 trees.
I have two children. I have a 12-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter - although she might be 16 by the time you read this, unless of course you don’t read it until 2025 in which case she’ll be either 25 or 26. And we’ll have all been taken over by robots.
I recently had to have the ‘sex’ talk with my son. It was uncomfortable and confusing - but by the end I had learned quite a bit.
Both my children were recently involved in an incident on their school bus. The accident was so serious that it actually made it onto the news. Whilst waiting at a bus stop to pick up a child who was late, they all heard a loud bang. The driver immediately told everyone to evacuate. Moments later, the bus burst into flames. The seat on which my daughter had been sitting minutes earlier, immediately became nothing more than burnt ash. When things like this happen it puts everything else in perspective. Suffice to say I spent the rest of the day hugging my children. As well as the bus
driver.
In addition to producing two children, I have also produced two books. As with the children, this took time, commitment, energy, screaming and crying.
One of the books is a romantic comedy called The Girl From The Discotheque and is loosely based on a true story about a guy who becomes obsessed with a girl he briefly met at a disco in the 1980’s. After spending the next 20 years thinking about her, he realises that he won’t be able to get on with the rest of his life until he finds her. No, it’s not MY story….
The other book IS my story though. It’s a memoir called Heard The One About The Stolen Identity? and it covers the time I had my identity stolen, lost everything and had to move back in with my parents. It also goes into detail about the Channel 4 documentary I made on the subject, how I found a loophole in the law, how my actions forced changes to the Driving Licence Application Form and how I was knighted for all my hard work. Sorry, did I say ‘knighted’? I meant ‘arrested’.
Both books have received lovely 5 star reviews and are available on Amazon. Treat yourself.
Of course the quote I mentioned earlier, is all about achievements and aspirations. Like most people, when I was younger I had many ambitions and dreams. Some of them came to fruition, for example, I did once kiss the girl I fancied in school, although it did take three years – the opportunity that is, not the kiss itself.
Another ambition was to act in a film. I once had a small part in a film with Michael Sheen. Funnily enough Michael and I went to the same school and had the same enthusiastic and encouraging drama teacher, proving that good teachers really can make a difference.
Of course, some of my ambitions have yet to be carried out. For example, I am still waiting for the call to be the next James Bond and I haven’t found my own cure for baldness or fatty-belly-syndrome, but I assume this is all just a matter of time.
There is one ambition however that I will be fulfilling later this year. I have always wanted to have my own radio series and the good people at BBC Radio Wales have granted this wish. The series is called Bennett Arron is Jewelsh and is based on my last stand-up tour. I am genuinely excited about this. I am also pretty nervous as when you are offered the opportunity to do something you’ve always wanted to do, you then have to live up to your own expectations. I hope it goes well and I’m sure that through the mediums of Facebook and Twitter I’ll find out pretty quickly if it hasn’t.
However, before that happens there is the small matter of my having to plant a tree or two. I suppose the reason for the tree planting is to make up for the trees which are cut down to make the books. The thing is, my books are mainly being sold online as Ebooks, so I might get away with
just planting a microchip. And if I do that, it will no doubt grow into an Apple tree…
So I suppose the theme of this article has been ambitions and achievements. Many times we all want to give up on our ambitions. But we shouldn’t. We should keep trying. And we should always remember the man who continued working hard to pursue his dreams, despite all the odds. His name, of course, was Percy Veerance.
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© Bennett Arron 2015