Captain Sensible, otherwise Raymond Burns, does not like his stage name. It's not clear exactly how he got but it was something to do with wearing a peked cap when he was touring France with The Damned.

"We were fooling around on a plane journey when i announced: -This Is your Captain Speaking-".

That was eight years ago. Now twenty eight, Captain Sensible is still living with is parents in a small terraced house in South London. His romm is a mess, knee-deep in clothes, shoes, magazines, paper and records.

"One of the music papers described me as one of the world's more disgusting slobs. It's true, I have to admit it".

He was born in Balham and the family moved to the present house in Croydon in 1964 when he was six.

"When I left school, I swept factory floors and did a bit of gardening. We had a group, me, my brother (Phil Burns) and three friends. We thought we were the greatest. We weren't, we were rubbish. They stopped us halfway troght our first number in a talent contest because we were making such a dreadful sound".

Later, when Captain Sensible was working as a lavatory cleaner, a friend (Rat Scabies) persuaded him to join his group, THE DAMNED, as a bass player. He did, and that's how Captain Sensible started his career in the pop world. After joining the group, he went to live in Brighton. He only stayed for 18 months as he ended up living in a hotel.

"I'm not very good at doing the washing up and that. And when I was angry, I used to open a tin and shove it on the cooker. I didn't like living like that so I thought, to with it, I'll go back and live with Mum and Dad".

I asked him about his future in pop music.

"I don't think about it"

, while we were talking, he puffed away ata cigarette.

"I smoke a lot. The world might end tomorrow, you know. We were just a speck in the universe , all of us".

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WERTY 1998