Every day of my life, Dad went to work. He got up, had a cup of tea and went to his office in the house somewhere. He did a full days work and reemerged in the evening to have dinner with us. His incredible discipline meant that we always had food on the table and he grew to be an enormously successful writer.

Now that he is seventy five you might be forgiven for thinking he would be taking things easier but he works as hard as ever. He and my mother provided a stable home as we moved around the world, no matter where we lived, the same furniture would be there, the same routine. If this sounds dull, it never was as our lives were decorated with a variety of colourful, eccentric (well most of them anyway), creative people.

My childhood is marked by memories such as appearing at the age of four at a Science Fiction convention as a weer-Bunny, clad in rabbit suit and clutching a basket of dismembered dolls and a sign around my neck stating, "I eat dollys and blood oranges."

Often Dad and Brian Aldiss would reel through the door late at night after some marathon imbibing event (usually Science Fiction conventions I have to say) and burst into their ever popular rendition of Colonel Bogey. This prompted me at a young age to leave a note for said offenders requesting that Daddy and Brian please not sing Colonel Bogey. To the best of my knowledge they are still doing it !

So what can I say about a father who gave me love, humour, world travel, support in any crisis and a pretty terrific Mum as well, well how about sending him all my love and wishing him a Happy 75th Birthday Dad, I hope we will be prising your fingers off the keyboard when you are 100 and telling you take a holiday !