Tim Clayton Q&A

We sat down with "The Great Fire of London", Tim Clayton, to ask him some questions about the book and his own love of wrestling.

Q: First of all, The Great Fire of London?

A: Ha ha. Well, my dad is from London and it sounds like a cool wrestling name, doesn't it? I imagine I would walk out to the ring with fire surrounding me and a costume with flames on it. Maybe my signature move could be setting myself on fire and then pinning people... although that probably isn't the smartest idea ever!

Q: How long have you been a wrestling fan?

A: I was a huge fan as a kid but I got jaded in the mid-nineties and missed a few years. I watched occasionally in the Monday Night Wars but was busy being a student and discovering other pleasures. I really came back to it about 4 years ago when I showed my son a match and he just fell in love with it. Since then I must have caught up on every match I missed. It is a huge thing for the two of us and it is wonderful to watch wrestling with a kid. They invest in it so much and just the spectacle without the skepticism.

Q: What do you like about wrestling?

A: It is totally unconcerned with what others think about it and so are the fans. It is great to see people just let themselves go and invest in something. And it is one of the few things that has the capacity to really inspire anger, joy and awe. It is such a classical form of theatre and entertainment. I really don't think it gets the credit it deserves from a performance point of view or from a creative point of view. For me, it is brutal ballet.

Q: Are you an expert?

A: No, I wouldn't claim to be. I'm a fan and a writer. I do my best to write about what I know and to be authentic. I am sure there are thousands out there more clued up than me but I wouldn't have written the book if I wasn't secure that my knowledge were good enough to tell the story right.

Q: Have you ever wrestled?

A: My boys put me in some pretty crazy submission maneuvers but I would never take a bump. Those guys and galls are crazy. It is unbelieveable what they do!

Q: What are some favourite matches of yours?

A: I was a WWF kid. It was what was on our TV screens in Britain at the time. We had a bit of WCW too, but it was not shown as much. My top three matches I loved at the time or have since caught up with are:

- Bret Hart v Davey Boy Smith at Summerslam

- Misterio v Guerrero at Halloween Havoc

- Undertaker v Mankind at HIAC

It may be a pretty standard list but they really are some of the best matches of all time.

Q: Where did the idea for FBW come from?

A: Idea? It's all true. All I did was interview the people and note it all down. I take no credit!

Q: Seriously....

A: Okay. I wanted to write a book about wrestling but I didn't want to steal anyone's real story. It would be a waste of time telling an unoriginal story. I had ideas for about two years but never wrote anything down as they were all too close to real people or events. I didn't even bother putting pen to paper. Then, one day, it occured to me that the problem was that I was thinking about telling the story of a performer. I thought "Why not write about the promoter and make it more about the business decisions and the background?" and, within five minutes, I had a picture of Micky Blast in my mind, a title for the book and a story stretching out before me in my mind. I ran home and the whole thing took less than a week to complete. I waited two years and then it came totally naturally. The story just wanted to be told.

Q: Any plans for the next installment?

A: We will see. Corby, Pitt and Micky's story certianly isn't finished yet. There may well be more to come.

Q: Thanks

A: No, thank you. It's been a pleasure.