45 years ago: Wigan Infirmary, Wigan, UK – c.5th November 1977

That Time I Nearly Died. It’s not the sort of story you’d commemorate with a photo in the 70s, so this library image will have to suffice.

When I was 4, I used to have a Tonka truck just like this. One day, while running and pushing it around, bent over it, I ran into a real truck and fractured my skull, badly. My memory of the whole thing ends with me thinking to myself ‘it’s a bit uncomfortable to run around and keep looking up – so I’ll just run without looking’. It wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had.

Unconscious, I was rushed to Wigan Infirmary for emergency surgery. I’m told that when a nurse was asked what else anyone could do, she replied “well, you can pray”. Under the care of our wonderful NHS, I eventually regained consciousness, with a significantly dented head – and was kept in for several days.

I’m not sure of the dates but I do remember being in hospital on Bonfire Night and seeing fireworks through the tall Edwardian windows. The scenes in ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’ where Harry is hospitalised, in an old iron bed in a high-ceilinged ward following a quidditch injury, strongly remind me of those days and nights.

When I finally came home, I’d been given a cool sand-pit play area and, strangely, the Tonka truck was never seen again.

I still have the dented head..