David Clegg

It's the question asked of all murderers, politicians and writers: "Why did you do it?" Several years ago I entered a competition called "Gone in 60 Seconds." As the name suggests you had to produce a play that takes no more than one minute to perform.  I enjoyed writing them so I just carried on, until now you have my shimmering collection of 80 mini plays, A Multitude of Things.

My mini plays have been performed in several theatres and on local radio stations. They have been published in art and writing magazines. Listing them would just be a "Festival of Insignificance".  It is more interesting to ask WHY someone writes; what are their motivations?  Here are two quotes:-

"Brevity is the soul of wit." William Shakespeare.

"Wit is a Sword. It is meant to make people feel the point as well as see it." G.K. Chesterton.

These sentiments are at the heart of what I do. But more than this, in my plays I try to illustrate what is important to me; love, kindness, humour, and those positive human traits that make life worth living.  I also try to highlight, often by using humour, those more negative human traits that I abhor: crassness, pettiness, hurtful stereotypes, sexism, racism, ignorance, and violence. It's quite a long list!

My first job as a schoolboy was painting pigs: glass pigs containing bath salts. After a brief spell working in a flour mill I became a secondary school science teacher for twenty one years. After this I worked for Social Services and finally the Carers' Resource Charity, which I am very proud of.

I married my wife Susan in 2002. I have two stepchildren Hannah and Danial and a dog called Louis (Named after Louis Armstrong). I am very pleased to be a resident of Harrogate, the happiest place to live in the U.K.

I hope you enjoy my Mini plays.