Interview with “The Part-Time Secret”

Welcome to the last interview of the current series and what an absolute treat it was. Liam Thompson aka “The Part-Time Secret” was the interview’s victim. Liam, a man originally from Wolverhampton now living in Stockton is a Primary school teacher by day, and by night and weekends a very talented young man. I’m sure some of you can relate to his answer when I asked what other hobbies he had and Liam replied along the lines of “I have a 3 year old”, so he doesn’t really have time for any other hobbies, I’m surprised he finds time for this one. 

He cannot recall where he got the name “ Part Time Secret” from, only that it was a note on his phone he found and he uses a stage name to have an aspect of anonymity.  Understandable when you’re a primary school teacher but you write quite often funny and a little bit crude poetry such as “Ethel and the Kettle” ( one of my favourites). However Liam did say none of his poems are aimed at causing offence or as an attack at anyone; it’s purely his style. His drawings that are posted alongside each poem, displays his talent for creativity. The idea came from doodling, where Liam would doodle in notebooks sometimes without purpose. Some of his amazing art he still draws first onto his sketchbook as he used to do,  but mostly now he uses an app on the Ipad; due to the flexibility of technology. It’s odd for a poet to not actually be really into reading poetry themself, but for Liam it works. Instead Liam finds his inspiration in song lyrics from bands such as “Arctic Monkeys”, “The Smith’s” or “The Libertines”. One poet’s work he did express admiration for is Luke Wright  and if you have seen his instagram page you will know he is a fan of John Cooper Clarke. Liam describes his chance meeting with John Cooper Clarke( which a snippet was recorded and posted) as an event that has left such a huge imprint in his memory. It was before a Clarke show that Liam and a friend had booked to see when, as they were walking down the street,  there standing on the corner was the man himself. Liam emphasised how down to earth he was, chatting with them and even taking time to listen to some of his work. “ Go for it” is what Clarke signed in Liam’s poetry book, which Liam then got inked on his arm as a tribute. This mirrors the same message Liam gave when I asked what advice would you give to people who want to get into poetry or get up and do open mics like you do. His advice was to” throw yourself into it” and “think about what you want from your performance”.  It was also comforting to know that despite having caught the performance bug and done at least 12 open mics, that he still gets nervous. Not every performance goes to plan or is how he imagined. At one open mic Liam got up and performed his poem “She’s got a Fanny” ( a  regular on his set list) as his last for his allocated slot, then the lady who came after him started with a deeply emotional one about domestic abuse, understandably he initially felt slightly awkward. Not that he let that creep in and doubt his work, his style is humour, hers is something different. I love how proud and non apologetic Liam is of his unique voice. 

Liam got a book created of his work and drawings; initially  made to show audiences, but this also serves as a template for potentially how his debut collection would look. It’s just a matter of getting a publishing deal and if he had to go down the self publishing route, of course finances. Understandably with a 3 year old daughter, a stable income is his priority.  PLEASE SOMEONE OFFER THIS MAN A PUBLISHING DEAL!!!! 

So then we got on to the “ fun” questions of the interview ( although I had a lot of fun talking about artistry with Liam too). So let’s start with an interesting fact,  90’s/00’s era pop music such as “Take That” or “Will Young ” is his guilty pleasure. (Well I must admit I do love a good bit of “Backstreet Boys” myself. Liam is without question full on music festival camping kind of guy, didn’t even think about the options of glamping or hotel. Liam goes to a music festival not even for the music, just for the camping with friends, even if it’s muddy and cold. Comedian’s he enjoys are Lee Evans, Jimmy Carr, Greg Davies, Billy Connoly and that leads us to Bob Mortimor. Who he didn’t name as one of his favourite comedians, rather he named his book “The Satsuma Complex ” as a book he has enjoyed recently. To be honest Liam sold me the book the moment he told me about the scene of the character having a conversation with a squirrel. Forget the rest of the plot, I’m someone who is always getting caught talking to (animals domesticated or wild) and forgets to say hello to the owners.

But to top it all off; If he could erase any object or invention in the world, it would be Meringues. Specifically crunchy Meringues. It’s the way he answered with no hesitation or thought, that’s how deep his hatred goes. I haven’t even asked this question before so it’s not as if he had time to prepare his answer. I don’t know what kind of traumatic event made Liam despise them so much, but I certainly wasn’t expecting his answer, nor at the speed it came. Before we knew it we had been chatting for over an hour, and for a man who was worried that he wouldn’t have anything interesting to say or talk about, he sure gave me some great content to write about. 

Please go and check out “The Part-Time Secret” Liam Thompson’s Instagram page and if you see his name down for an open mic slot, stay to watch.

Keep an eye out for the announcement of the next set of interviews on my new Instagram page The Swift Poetry Review.