I am quite big - not just tall. In fact that may be one of the reasons why people seem to forget quite how tall I am between times that they meet me (more of that later too). I look pretty much like an average person but a bit bigger in each dimension.

owever the real reason for "A Big Lad" is football commentary in the late '80s and early '90s on ITV. It seemed to astonish the pundits that any footballer taller than about 5 feet 8 could actually play. I'll talk about this some more another time, but for now let's just say that this is a sport in which Ron Atkinson could be called "Big Ron".

It would reach extreme heights whenever Arsenal were playing and Niall Quinn appeared. You would think that here was an unparalleled giant of a man on the pitch to hear the likes of Jack Charlton. "He's a big lad!" would be his usual statement of the obvious as he marvelled at Quinn's ability to stand on his feet for even a few seconds. His colleague would concur, before dwelling on something equally transparent.

Yes, it was definitely Jack's north-east tones I could hear in my head s I named my blog "A Big Lad".

f Niall Quinn qualifies as a big lad, I certainly do. may not have any footballing skill whatsoever, but I am a little taller (and fatter).