Make-believe was my escape from reality as a lonely, only child. I didn't read books, I devoured them, and I wrote: stories, and essays for school. I annoyed the class swot annually by winning a prize offered for the best work in English Language and Literature. Why, apart from loving the subject? I needed the book token.Distressed by burying yet another of my beloved kittens run over on a busy road, my father bought me my first dog and set me on a path neither he nor I could have foreseen. Married, and living in Wales, I still had dogs, several, trained for obedience competition. The theatre hooked me from the day one of them won the part of Sandy in "Annie", arguably a musical with one of the most difficult roles for a dog: there are no retakes in live theatre. I supplied dogs, if required, for every musical and play at that venue for the next six years: great fun and an amazing opportunity to meet directors, and performers, many in shows on tour before their West End premiere.

We moved to County Durham in North-East England and the Northern Ballet invited me front-of-house at closed rehearsals. I was able to watch the director, and I was close enough to hear his conversations with his choreographer, wardrobe mistress, lighting engineers and many others involved: utterly fascinating, and a totally different view of a production than from backstage.I've been incredibly lucky to meet so many celebrities of stage and screen: all of them have contributed to my knowledge. I owe them my thanks for telling me their stories and answering countless questions that enabled me to capture the real world of producers, directors, and performers in films, concerts and especially musicals. Durham is only three hours by train from London, and the West End: Scotland an easy drive. I adapted the old adage "write about what you know" to "write about what you know that many other people don't and would like to know" and settled to create fictional characters based on the countless people I had the privilege of meeting, and using two of the settings I know well. The result was Dangerous Liaisons, the first book in the Royal Command series. The historical thread? Another passion of that lonely, only child who filled bookshelves to overflowing and haunted the local library.