Did I appear in the video for Understanding Jane by the Icicle Works?

I know I still bang on about him now, but between about 1984 and about 1987, along with Mike Scott and Ian Muir, Ian McNabb was my absolute hero. With big shaggy hair, proper rock and roll boots, a great looking guitar and more catchy indie pop rock anthems than you could shake a stick at, he was what pop stars were meant to be in my book.

I was bemused as to why his band, The Icicle Works, didn't have more hits. I honestly couldn't understand why the rest of the country wasn't in the queue with me at HMV on Church Street, waiting to buy 7", 12" and tape versions of Understanding Jane when it came out (in 1986 I think). It's still an absolutely brilliant song.

Mad stalker that I was, I even went along to Ainsdale Beach to see the band shoot the video. Mark Jones announced on Radio City the day before that they were looking for extras to appear in it and that everyone was welcome to just turn up.

I had to bunk off school to make the trip. I remember the girl I was going out with at the time turning up at the train station in her school uniform, having decided to do the same as me. I was p*****d off no end at this, although I've no idea why. I guess I thought she would be cramping my style because obviously I would have run off with the band and lived the life of a roadie, had I not have had to get her back to her mum and dad's house in Bromborough in time for tea.

Even so, for me, the whole day was a brush with stardom. My 12" single warped in the heat but I did get the cover signed by all three members of the band, which obviously madethe record priceless, even though it was unplayable.

I've still got really vivid memories of smallest details of the day. The band drank cans of Carlsberg. They seemed to disappear into the loos on the 'tour bus' pretty often too. I had no idea why. Ian turned up fashionably later than everyone else, driving what I think was an Opel Manta. I think it actually appears in the video. A boxer dog appeared on set and no one could get rid of it so they just had to shoot the film anyway, with it yapping away in the foreground. I took photographs on my mum's rubbish camera. I think all the cool people just wanted me to go away.

I think the single peaked at something like number 50 and I don't actually remember ever seeing the video appear on TV at the time, so I had no idea if I appeared in it myself. I didn't as it turns out but, thanks to the magic of YouTube, I have unearthed the original video.

Sleeveless grandad shirt, bootlace tie, skin tight black jeans. Hmmm. Did I really want to look like that?