John Moore (2), Pete Astor

John Moore is the son of a Guinness salesman and a ballet-dancing spy. At nursery school, his teachers nicknamed him Mussolini, for his habit of scowling beneath the table and refusing to come out. He was a member of The Jesus and Mary Chain, a founder of Black Box Recorder, and in 1999, Britain’s first importer of Absinthe. The NME wrote of him ‘John Moore appears to be on a lifelong mission to corrupt the nation’s youth’. He has been a Guardian columnist, blogger, Sports Editor for The Idler, Guardian Motoring Correspondent, and, most recently, its Spider Expert. His short stories have appeared in Vice Magazine and The Erotic Review, and his poetry has been published in the magazine Le Gun.

He lives in London, where his interests include: Hampstead Heath, Soho, Roland Rat, crime, the occult, cricket, drawing and painting, and music. He has written a stage musical about The Kray Twins - The Blind Beggar’s Opera – and he is currently working on one about the legendary Colony Room. Moore has appeared on Top of The Pops as part of The Jesus and Mary Chain and Black Box Recorder. He has been grilled by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight about Absinthe and on University Challenge as part of The Idler team who beat The Financial Times.

His favourite authors are Graham Greene, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and HG Wells, and his favourite film directors are Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

Join John as he plays songs from his pair of wonderful new albums, ‘Lo-Fi Lullabies’ and ‘Floral Tributes’, and reads from 'Bad Light', his recently completed first novel.