Inspired by the film “Born Free” Paul Blezard was originally going to be a big game warden, but finding at the age of eight that there were limited opportunities in this field, especially in the wilds of Northamptonshire, he instead stayed at school, later gaining a degree in geology before turning to stockbroking.

Forsaking the rigours of Mammon after six years, he left the city to pursue a career in music, ending up as a rock star in communist Bulgaria, then as a yacht broker on London’s Bond Street, followed by a number of years as an international model, working as the face of Paul Smith, Philip’s razors and Barbour wax jackets to name but three. There then followed a variety of other “professions” upon which it is probably best to let the cleansing dust of time settle.

Now a writer of fiction and non-fiction, Paul is a presenter at Oneword Radio – the digital station dedicated to spoken word, books and drama. He has interviewed over 1100 authors for his daily “Between the Lines” show, chaired events at literary festivals from Hay to Deia, Cheltenham to Edinburgh and his mellifluous voice has been described by Paul Donovan of the Sunday Times as having ‘more fruit than Carmen Miranda’s hat’.

He has also been described by Nicky Haslam in the Daily Telegraph as one of the “best-dressed men in London” alongside A.A. Gill, but then it had been a very late night and was unbelievably dark at the time.