I got asked my autograph and I signed it and gave it back to the woman and she looked at my name and said, who?

I said Stephen Mangon. She went, oh sorry, I thought you were Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen.

So it wasn't all upside.

This week on Walking the Dog, Ray and I went for a stroll with a very wonderful actor, writer, presenter, and all-round comic genius Stephen Mangan.

Stephen and I met up on Hampstead Heath for our walk and he seemed very taken with Ray,

mainly as he decided they had spookily similar hairstyles.

Stephen was such a lovely person to go for a walk with, partly as he's just fabulous company,

but also because he's had such an interesting life and career,

and we covered pretty much all of it,

from his childhood growing up in Enfield with his Irish-born parents

to his law degree at Cambridge,

and his decision to become an actor,

which, as it turned out, was a very good decision as he's gone on to star in some truly iconic shows, from I'm Alan Partridge, where he famously played Dan, Dan, to Green Wing and episodes, and more recently, of course, the hugely popular legal drama The Split.

Stephen is also a very successful children's author

who's written numerous best-selling books

and he's just published his latest,

Barry Saves Christmas,

which by the way is illustrated by Stephen's very talented sister Anita

and I loved it

because Barry is a huge slobbery, St St Bernard Dog who goes on a mission to stop an elf

who's trying to sabotage Christmas. It's a brilliantly funny, beautifully written children's book.

So if you're looking for a gift for a young person who loves dogs and Christmas, I can't think of a better present.

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