#TenThingsYouMayNotKnowAbout – #AlisonRipleyCubitt

/ Marcia Meara

Today, I’m happy to introduce a visitor who’s new to The Write Stuff, Alison Ripley Cubitt. I know you will all make her feel welcome as she shares her #TenThings list with us, so let’s get started. Alison, the floor is yours!

Hi Marcia,

Thanks for having me!

TEN THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME

1 I would cry in art class at school.

I am so inept at drawing— (even stick figures) meant that I’d wish away the entire lesson, longing to go back and do something I loved—like reading! It’s still the same now. If anyone asked me to draw anything I’d run away and hide.

2 I believed that there were no cars in New Zealand.

Before we emigrated, I’d overheard one of Mum’s friends say, “it was like Britain was 20 years ago.” I immediately assumed that everyone got around on horseback, so I was wildly enthusiastic about going. Imagine my disappointment when we arrived in Wellington, and we piled into a taxi and not a coach and four!

3 I was insulted by a minor celebrity

I was a devotee of Adam Ant and wore a frilly white shirt to a nightclub in Sydney where Elvis Costello’s drummer at the time called me a ‘Spandy.’ (A devotee of Spandau Ballet). I didn’t say what I thought of him!

4 I’m hopeless on skates and skis.

Determined to conquer this fear, I even took rollerblading lessons. My rollerblading dreams came crashing down after I went for a spin around Sefton Park in Liverpool and returned to the bench where I’d left my shoes—only to find they’d vanished. (Luckily, they were £10 bargains, not Jimmy Choos!). I had to walk all the way back to my car in my socks.

5 I once carried a tray of coffees and bacon sandwiches up a fixed ladder up on to the roof of what was the tallest building in London, which at the time was the top of the tower of what was the new extension of Guy’s Hospital.

6 One of my ambitions was to drive the entire London Orbital motorway (also known as the Magic Roundabout as once you get on, it’s challenging to get off it) the M25, and I did that last year—single-handed and in a freak storm!

7 When I first moved to London, after growing up Down Under, I found some of the place names real tongue-twisters and my mispronunciation caused hoots of mirth amongst my colleagues. Cadogan Square and Magdalen College, Oxford, for example.

8 I was so bad at maths I had to retake my school exam to get over the 50% pass mark, yet I ended up in charge of substantial television budgets. Luckily, like Richard Branson, who was similarly maths-challenged, I could read a balance sheet!

9 On a research trip for our first novel, eco-thriller Revolution Earth, my co-writer and I got a tour around a uranium mine in the Northern Territory, Australia, by posing as tourists. It amused us that there was this big sign in front of the crater lake where they disposed of the radioactive waste warning you not to swim because of crocodiles, rather than radioactivity.

10 I’m so addicted to Scandi-noir TV series that I once made a pilgrimage from Denmark to Sweden to cross the Oresund bridge. In every episode there is a helicopter shot of the crossing which marks the border between Sweden and Denmark. We were beaten to the best seats on the bus that ran between the two countries by two elderly Australian women who were devotees of The Bridge. On the way back from Sweden the two women were nowhere to be seen so we bagged the two front seats. You got a better view of the bridge from the Swedish side, so it was a win for us. I’m seriously considering holidaying on an island in Scandinavia which features in another fictional TV series with a few hundred inhabitants where there’s a murder every week!

Author Alison Ripley Cubitt
(Also known by her fiction alias Lambert Nagle)

Alison Ripley Cubitt spent fifteen years working in film and tv production, wrangling actors and mostly cartoon animals. She writes to satisfy her curiosity and likes to jump genres. She’s explored mother and daughter relationships in film and memoir; written a tell-all about what goes on behind the scenes in television; written about art looting and theft in her second thriller, and taken a fictional journey down to Antarctica to try to avert an environmental catastrophe. Her partner in crime and thriller writing, Séan Cubitt, is also her trophy husband.

Check Out Two of Alison’s Books  Here

CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE

You can reach Alison on Social Media Below

To find out more please visit: https://www.lambertnagle.com
You can follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/lambertnagle
Find her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alisonripleycubittwriter
Hop over to Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/alisonripleycubitt

 

    

82 thoughts on “#TenThingsYouMayNotKnowAbout – #AlisonRipleyCubitt”

  1. Fascinating! I would love to know more about #5. Or maybe it will show up in a book. Sounds like you have had an interesting life, Alison! (PS I loved Spandau Ballet and would not have minded being called a “Spandy”)

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    • Hi Darlene, this was my first job in TV, and we were filming panoramas of London that day. Once breakfast was done, I had to whip out my notebook and make sure I’d recorded every camera angle and shot, as this was back in the day of film, not video.

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  3. I loved the expectation of a coach and four and am impressed/aghast at climbing a ladder that high up with, or without, a tray of coffee and bacon butties! As a fellow lover of Scandi noir, I envy you your trips across the Oresund Bridge. As for mispronunciation, we’ve lived in the UK all our lives but were still thrown when we moved to Leicestershire to find that Beecham is spelt Beauchamp, and Beever is Belvoir. Great to ‘meet’ Alison, Marcia! Many thanks for another fascinating installment! ♥♥

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    • So glad you enjoyed Alison’s #TenThings list, Trish, and let me say I really enjoyed YOUR comment. Always so interesting to see how differently the same words can be pronounced from place to place.

      Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I expect you’ll be hearing from Alison later. (I’m thinking time differences will play a part in her response time.) 😀 ❤

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    • Hi Alexcraigie, I was very lucky to get that trip across the Oresund Bridge as we happened to be in Copenhagen for a work-related trip and tacked that bit on the end! (I’m glad it isn’t just me that gets the pronunciation of English place names wrong!)

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    • Hey, I have something in common with your sibling, Joan. Not the “majored in” part, but the painting and teaching part. I painted for years, and taught beginners at the old Ben Franklin stores in this area. NOTHING like serious art, but fun all the same.

      Glad you enjoyed meeting Alison, and thanks so much for stopping by today! 😀 ❤

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    • I’m with you, Antoinette. I don’t like to drive much these days, though I had my first license at 14. Today, I stick to surface roads, rather than major highways. Too much traffic, and too many crazy drivers out there. Ladders aren’t my favorite things, either, though I can climb up one or two steps now and then, if need be.

      Thanks so much for stopping by today and taking a moment to say hello! 😀 ❤

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    • Hi Antoinette, I was climbing a ladder for work, so had to pretend it was fine! I travelled across the bridge on a bus, and I wasn’t the one doing the driving, luckily.

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  8. Hi, Alison! What an absolutely fascinating set of inside info today! This Ten Things section just gets better and better! I’m totally with you on the skates and skis thing; balance is really not my thing. I love Nordic Noir movies, sadly don’t have access to TV though, only DVDs – is there one must-see movie you’d really recommend? : )

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    • So glad you enjoyed Alison’s post, Liza, and that you really like the #TenThings series. Me, too! And I hope to keep it running for a long time yet.

      Thanks so much for stopping by today and taking a moment to say hello! 😀 ❤

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    • Hi Liza, thanks for dropping by! I think the key to skating and skiing is balance and that it’s best learnt when you’re young and fearless! Regarding feature films, I liked the Swedish version of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I’m not sure if that’s still available on DVD. I watch everything via streaming services now.

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    • Painting is so much fun, Denise. I enjoy painting both rooms AND pictures, though I pretty much gave it up when I started writing. That’s okay. I did it for many years, and it was time to tell some stories, instead.

      Glad you enjoyed meeting Alison today, and thanks so much for stopping by to let us know. 😀 ❤

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    • Glad you enjoyed Alison’s post, Teri. It seems several folks don’t think they are particularly gifted when it comes to drawing, so you aren’t alone. 😀 Thanks so much for stopping by today & taking a moment to say hello! 😀 ❤

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    • I can see I’m way out of the loop on this one, Sally, since I have no clue about Scandi anything. 😕Glad you enjoyed the post, though, and are interested in this topic. Thanks so much for stopping by to let us know. 😀 ❤

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    • Hi Sally, thanks for dropping by. I liked the original Wallander series in Swedish. Then Kenneth Branagh was cast in the English language version, which I found interesting as he’s a brilliant actor. Then there was The Bridge, which ran for four seasons and the Danish series The Killing. My current watch is Sandhamm, set on the Stockholm archipelago.

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  15. How do you pronounce Cadogan Square?! I know Magdalen is pronounced ‘Maudlin’ (of course!)
    I laughed out loud that your shoes were stolen in Liverpool, a place renowned for cars being left up on bricks becuase the wheels have been stolen! I love that you were so trusting – but you could probably leave a $50 note on a bench in NZ and nobody would touch it.
    I too would love to know more about the bacon butty/fixed ladder up Guys’ Hospital tower episode! 🙂 I know that tower well – Guys was one of my customers.
    Thank you for sharing, Alsion and Marcia, I LOVE reading these 10 Things posts. They are always funny and fascinating!

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    • So glad you enjoyed Alison’s post, Jackie, and that you like this series. I think it has been one of the most interesting and entertaining things I’ve done on this blog, and hope to keep it going a long time. Even if I have to put out a call for Ten MORE Things You May Not Know About me! (After all, most of us can come up with way more than ten fun or interesting things from our lives, I’m sure.)

      Thanks for stopping by today, and happy travels, my friend! 😀 ❤

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      • NOTE FROM ALISON: Alison asked me to let those she hasn’t responded to know she’s having trouble replying. (A blog issue I can’t figure out, as she’s approved to post.) She enjoyed each comment, though, and appreciates your stopping by.

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      • You got me thinking… I would definitely be up for 10 More Things at some point! Or a Top Tenuous – like my Uncle Harry, who was a stand-up comedian, meeting Tommy Cooper, (that’s very tenuous!), me spotting snooker star Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins in the distance at The Belfry Hotel, and sitting next to ‘New Lives In The Wild’ television presenter Ben Fogle at the London Ski Show, but being too starstruck to invade his privacy and say ‘hello’!

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        • Yeah, I’m definitely gonna have to put out the word that folks who’ve already done a #TenThings list should consider doing another. But first, I need to think about how I’d want to set it up. Probably leave it the same alternate Wednesdays format, but the date can either feature a first timer or a repeat. And I have to decide if I want to keep the repeats down to something like #FiveMoreThingsYouMayNotKnowAbout Me. I’ll have to ponder it, but I’m pretty sure I’ll get something set up before too long, so folks who’d like another go around can have it.

          Glad you like the idea, Jackie, and thanks for weighing in on it. 😀 ❤

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  17. Well, you’re such an interesting person, Alison, your books have to be as well! In regards to number nine, did you miss a sign near the crater lake for uranium disposal warning you that you would glow in the dark after the visit? Thank you, Marcia, for introducing us to Alison!

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    • Glad you enjoyed Alison’s post, Nancy, and I’m sure she’ll be along later today to answer your question. 😀 Thanks so much for stopping by this morning and taking a moment to say hello! 😀 ❤

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      • NOTE FROM ALISON: Alison asked me to let those she hasn’t responded to know she’s having trouble replying. (A blog issue I can’t figure out, as she’s approved to post.) She enjoyed each comment, though, and appreciates your stopping by.

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  18. I can relate to some of this, though not carrying the tray of coffee and sandwiches. When Mum asked at breakfast one school morning if I would like it if we went to live in Australia my instant reply was Yes if I could have a horse. In fairness to Mum she did reply perhaps, anyway, I never got the horse. I love Scandi drama but haven’t made it to that bridge yet.

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    • NOTE FROM ALISON: Alison asked me to let those she hasn’t responded to know she’s having trouble replying. (A blog issue I can’t figure out, as she’s approved to post.) She enjoyed each comment, though, and appreciates your stopping by.

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    • Sorry to hear you never got your horse, Janet, but hey … you did get to live in Australia, and that’s got to be pretty interesting, with or without the stalwart steed. Thanks so much for stopping by, and I wish Alison were able to respond, too, but it’s not working for her right now. Hope you have a great day, though! 😀 ❤

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    • NOTE FROM ALISON: Alison asked me to let those she hasn’t responded to know she’s having trouble replying. (A blog issue I can’t figure out, as she’s approved to post.) She enjoyed each comment, though, and appreciates your stopping by.

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    • Thanks so much for stopping by, Steve, and I wish I could say I’d even been on the M25 briefly. Or the “Tube,” whatever that is. Sorry Alison can’t respond, but she appreciates your taking the time to comment. As do I! 😀

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    • Glad you enjoyed Alison’s post, Beth! She’ll be happy to see your comment, even though she’s having trouble responding. Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a moment to say hello! 😀 ❤

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