#10ThingsYouDidntKnowAbout Elisabeth Hobbes

PHS columnist, Elisabeth Hobbes, reveals ten unique things you almost definitely, quite possibly, maybe forgot and/or didn't know about her!

1) I can trace my roots back to 1086. My paternal grandfather was into genealogy and researched the family tree back to discover we have Saxon heritage. The name and lands are listed in the Domesday Book but you won’t find it under Hobbes because that’s a pen name. Unfortunately most of the land and wealth the family amassed was lost gambling with Edward the Black Prince so my delusions of grandeur ended before they even started.

2) My pen surname is the name of my now deceased cat. Hobbes was one of a pair with Calvin, both named after the comic strip characters. I wanted to get one ginger girl but went along to the Cat’s Protection League and came home with two black and white boys.

3) I have very specific face blindness. For some reason I can’t recognise the musician Tom Petty. He never looks like I expect him to and it doesn’t matter how many interviews or documentaries I see him in, every time I have to ask my husband who he is. I love his music as well which makes it doubly bad as going to watch him would be a complete waste of money because I might as well be watching a tribute act.

4) I once danced with the musicians from the band Bellowhead during a gig. A handful of us ended up dancing in the wings at an open air concert. When the musicians noticed us they kept nipping off to have a dance mid song then going back on stage. They kept playing their instruments all the time which is no mean feat for a trumpet player!

5) I get a mental block on whether things are pink or yellow and have to think really hard before naming them. I’m fine with every other colour. Battenburg Cake does my head in as you can probably imagine.

6) I have a phobia of going in water barefoot in case I tread on something. I stood on a sea urchin as a child and had to have the spines pulled out, then my boyfriend warned me about the dangers of weaver fish just before our first holiday to Greece. Now I wear flipflops or Crocs to swim in the sea and don’t care who laughs at me.

7) I haven’t been able to stomach Jaffa Cakes since I ate three packets at a party aged eight and threw up all night. Even the smell makes me queasy over thirty years later. My son asked for a giant Jaffa Cake birthday cake last year which I made but couldn’t eat.

8) If I had the space and know how, I would keep lemurs. I love them, especially the black and white ruffed ones and I’m convinced it wouldn’t take much to domesticate them (don’t shout at me please conservationists). I’ve done a couple of lemur encounters and been able to get up close to them and see how sociable they are in person. The best time was the sunbathing black ruffed lovelies who wanted their tummies tickling.

9) I got upgraded to First Class on my flight to New York because I was pregnant then I fainted waiting for the Staten Island Ferry for the same reason. I spent most of the trip trying to cross roads quickly so the smell of hot dogs didn’t set off my morning sickness. One day I’ll have to go back and appreciate the city properly.

10) I spent a year with my family visiting random places in alphabetical order and the following year doing the same in numerical order in our thrown together Berlingo campervan. Now we’re halfway through visiting places related to elements in the Periodic Table. We’ve gone from Acrington (who are they?) to Zennor, taken in the Yorkshire Rhubarb Triangle and the Forth Bridge (bad puns are encouraged) and Saltaire (sodium). Its great fun and we’ve discovered things we never would have otherwise.

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Elisabeth's latest release, The Saxon Outlaw's Revenge, is out now. For more information about her and her writing, check out her website and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.