Andrew's first professional contact with music came barely a year out of art school when he landed a layout job at the NME.

With his new NME chum Stuart Maconie, Andrew started writing and performing music-based satirical slots for Radio 5 and then Radio 1. Next stop: their Sony Award-winning review programme, Collins & Maconie's Hit Parade.

On TV they contributed to Channel 4's NakedCityin 1993 then fronted their own ITV programme Collins & Maconie's Movie Club. Andrew became editor of Empire, and then of Britain's biggest-selling music monthly Q magazine.

Andrew has also been a scriptwriter for Family Affairs and EastEnders. He wrote Billy Bragg's official biography Still Suitable For Miners and the official Friends Reunited book.

He presented Radio 4's film programme Back Row for two and half years and is currently Film Editor of Radio Times. His childhood memoir Where Did It All Go Right? was a Sunday Times Top 10 bestseller in 2003. It was followed by Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now, about the student years.

His first sitcom, Grass, co-written with The Fast Show's Simon Day was broadcast on BBC3 and BBC2 in 2003. He also presents Radio 2's topical music comedy show The Day The Music Died and finds it hard to say no when asked to be a talking head on those Top 100 programmes. He is a whore.


Questionnaire
First record you bought?
Blockbuster by The Sweet in 1073. I was only eight, so I didn't actually buy it, but I wanted it, and my parents bought it for me. I had some Disney storybook LPs but they don't count. Do they? If they do, then The Jungle Book.

Best Gig?
I came out of Radiohead at Wembley Arena in 2003 a changed man. I am also very glad I saw Bauhaus in Northampton in 1982 at Lings Forum, a leisure centre. It was the day all the local Goths converged. Also, The Cure at Texas Stadium in Dallas 1992 was astonishing. It was the day all the local jocks converged.

Six records you couldn't live without
* Entertainment by Gang Of Four;
* Pornography by The Cure;
* The W by Wu Tang Clan;
* Low by David Bowie;
* Soul Mining by The The;
* Endtroducing by DJ Shadow.

First record you ever played on the radio?
No idea. It might have been Al Martino's Here In My Heart as part of a humorous item with Mr Stuart Maconie on the old Radio 5 in 1992.

A record that makes you laugh?
Monty Python And The Holy Grail.

A record that sounds better in the dark?
Something I Can Never Have by Nine Inch Nails (found on Pretty Hate Machine and Natural Born Killers).

A song you wish you'd written?
I wish I'd written the lyrics to Tank Park Salute by Billy Bragg, then I'd know what the title meant. (He won't tell anyone.)

Soundtrack for a long car journey?
The entire back catalogue of the Wu Tang Clan please. Assuming I'm on my own.