I spent a very pleasant afternoon on Saturday at Borders Books in the Glasgow Fort retail park, just outside of Glasgow city centre.  I had been invited to sign copies of Silly Beggar for customers and to talk to them about the book.

I was very well looked after by the friendly staff and given a good position at the front of the store to catch customers as soon as they walked in.  They had also put up a nice big display of the book, with posters, elsewhere in the store, advertising my appearance.

Several customers had heard of our book thanks to the publicity it received last month in the national papers, the Chris Evans show and one customer commented that she had thorougly enjoyed my Richard and Judy interview! 

All in all, a great event in a great store.  It looked like the staff enjoyed their work and the store really does have a fantastic atmosphere.  I was invited back in the run up to Christmas and I plan on taking them up on the offer. 

It thrilled me to my very socks to discover an article about Silly Beggar in the Weekly News this week.

For those unfamiliar with the work of the Weekly News, it describes itself as a newspaper that thinks it’s a magazine! Packed with real-life dramas, celebrity interviews, an in-depth guide to the latest TV shows and films, up-to-the-minute medical news, puzzles, prize competitions, cartoons, gardening, short stories, The Royal Week, top sports coverage and much, much more.

The Weekly News article talks of my love of tea, buttering up companies, and reveals how the book has several ‘running gags’ throughout, which any one of the companies would not have been party to.

There’s also a picture of me, from the book, holding a magnifying glass to the ‘Slimfast’ logo on my shirt.  Unfortunately, the newsprint doesn’t really show the logo very well and it looks more like, for reasons not apparent, I’m magnifying my nipple.  Oh well, whatever helps sell the book!

On Saturday, the good folks of Waterstone’s in Kirkcaldy invited me to a book signing. They had set up a table at the front of the store and had handed out lots of flyers to promote the event.

The local paper, the Fife Free Press, had also advertised the event with a brief description of the book and played upon the ‘local’ angle by revealing my birthroots in Kirkcaldy!

The day was a lot of fun and I enjoyed speaking to readers, customers and staff throughout the signing.

Thanks to the power of the press coverage, a few browsing customers remembered hearing about (or reading about) the book and even some of the extracts printed in the Daily Mirror and Daily Record.

As a Scotsman, I can’t help but get a thrill whenever I have the opportunity to promote the book to a Scottish audience. Therefore it gave me enormous pleasure to be interviewed on Clyde 2 this morning by the popular DJ Mike Riddoch.

This interview was quite different to many I have given recently because Mike, who had clearly read and enjoyed the book, picked his favourite emails to discuss rather than the usual companies I find myself frequently asked about. So, unusually, we discussed Angel the cat, my wife Tiffany, Felix cat treats, BT Yahoo and I found myself reading the Tetley poem to the listeners. It was a really good fun interview.

It was also great to be able to promote the book on a Glasgow radio station one week before the signing at Borders, Glasgow Fort (27 June 12 noon). I was able to plug the signing during the interview and Mike even asked me to repeat the details at the end. It was a thoroughly enjoyable discussion of the book and I look forward to meeting the good people of Glasgow on the 27th at Borders, Glasgow Fort.

FM 104, Dublin’s Hit Music Station, arranged a phone-in interview with me this morning to discuss the book.  I spoke with presenters Jim and Niamh about the book, some of the wackiest blagging techniques within its pages, and the freebies I got my hands on.

Niamh revealed that she had once written to a chocolate company in her youth and received lots of free chocolate.  I like her style!  They asked me about the impact of the book since its release and we discussed whether it could start a blagging trend!

This was a great fun interview.  From what I heard of the rest of the show it sounds like a lot of fun.