NICK ROBERTS

A true unsung legend of the publishing industry, Nick Roberts started out poking around on Crash before launching, editing and even designing some of the UK's most iconic gaming mags. Given his clear plate-spinning talents, perhaps it's somewhat ironic then that the first videogame he ever played was Wacky Waiters!

- Stuart Hunt

So Nick, as a writer on Crash, we're guessing you soon switched from Commodore to Sinclair?

My friend Shane got a ZX81 and I was blown away when I saw it in 1981 - Sinclair was cooler than Commodore in my mind. So with the money I had saved up from DJing school discos, I bought myself a ZX Spectrum, a whole bunch of useless peripherals, like the Spectrum Light Pen, and loads of budget games. This must have been around 1984. I loved the Mastertronic range. Chiller, with its Thriller-inspired zombie cover, was a firm favourite of mine. That's when my interest in games took off and I started to really get into reading Crash.

So how did the opportunity to write for Crash come about?

One issue I happened to notice that the playing tips writer, Hannah Smith, was leaving. She had written a goodbye piece in one of the issues. I was 15 by this point and thought I'd apply. I wrote to Roger Kean, who was the editor at the time. He was a wonderful man and became one of my best friends. A few weeks passed and I got a phone call from his secretary who said, “Roger would like to invite you in for a writing test.” I was so excited. I can remember the feeling now. It was like some Wizard Of Oz moment.

I can still smell it today) and being interviewed by Roger as he sat puffing on a cigarette at his desk. Behind him was a Sinclair User logo that someone had swiped from a PCW Show in London and had brought back on the bus. Anyway, I played Stormbringer and, in my review, mentioned that I knew that the author was David Jones, as I had played his earlier Magic Knight games Finders Keepers and Spellbound. I think that impressed Roger, so he offered me the job. Then, every day, after school, I would go into the