My 2 minutes of fame!

Last week I appeared on my local satellite TV channel - channel M (M is for Manchester, how original!!). I was an unwilling participant in an interview at my local mosque to discuss how "Manchester Muslims celebrate the New Year)!. The original interviewee was the imam, but he wasn't confident that his English would be understood, so he nominated me to do it. The only reason I did it, was because I knew nobody I know would be watching this channel. The slot was for the breakfast show, Thursday 10th January (which is the beginning of the Islamic New Year the 1st of Muharram - depending on where you live, the 1st of Muharram was a Wednesday but that's a different story).

I told my interviewer (a lovely lady called Nina), that Muslims do not do anything special for New Year, although some people will wish one another a Happy New Year (not recommended, but not disliked by the majority), we don't in general use it as an excuse for a Knees up, but should use it for a time of contemplation and reflection. Muharram is considered to be one of the sacred months of the Islamic calendar, and it is recommended to fast on the 10th of Muharram to commemorate the Prophet Moses (Musa) freeing his people from the tyrant Pharoah, and also fast the previous or preceding day if possible. Of course, I couldnt explain this in the short time slot i was given for the interview. So instead, i explained some of the features of the mosque, and gave her a mini tour. I muffled up my lines 5 or 6 times due to nerves, but Nina and her crew said I did quite well!

I watched it on TV the next day with my two sons (my daughter couldn't be bothered to get up even though it was on at 8am!). The first thing I noticed about myself was my strong Mancunian accent! The second thing I noticed was how small my eyes were!! I was too embarassed to watch myself on TV but the kids enjoyed it, and it was edited in a nice way and showed Islam in a positive light, so I was pleased with the end result!

Nina has kindly offered to put it on DVD for me but I am not too bothered if i dont get to see it again.

My parents have both had very small (blink and u will miss them )cameos in television shows, they are more entertainers lol, I prefer to appear on news and current affairs shows!

Since the clip lasted about 2 minutes, according to Andy Warhol, I still have 13 minutes of fame left!