I am a lot of things. Around the time that the TV show Girls was popular and everyone was doing the Harlem Shake, I was one of those insufferable millennials1 who would say, with an air of smugness, “I’m everything the Daily Mail hates.” It’s not an incorrect statement, but nowadays I don’t measure my value as a human against what a right-wing rag would think about how I live my life.

I’ve spoken about the many building blocks of my identity on this newsletter before - namely the ‘big three’ of being autistic, queer and sober. But I’ve been neglecting to write about another important aspect that makes up the core of who I am.

It’s no surprise to regular readers that I am, of course, a massive nerd. (Not exactly one of the identities the Mail bristles against, but then again, they are fervently anti-intellectual, so on second thoughts, maybe it is.)

Some autistic people collect memorabilia or objects that pertain to their special interest.

I collect facts. I’m unsure if I can accurately convey just how much I enjoy learning random things just for the hell of it. For me, nothing beats a research deep dive into a fascinating topic, or getting questions right in a difficult trivia quiz.

I suppose my love of research and gaining knowledge is driven by my passion for reading. The more I learn about hyperlexia, the more I realise that I was most likely hyperlexic as a child, and I probably still am.

Admittedly, a small child who compulsively reads is extremely impressive but also more than a little bit unsettling. You know Matilda from the Roald Dahl book? That was me, without the ability to move things with my eyes.

As soon as I learned how to read, I could often be found with the Daily Mirror spread out across my lap, drowning me like a large blanket. It wasn’t exactly The Beano. It’s hard to put into words why I felt more drawn to the newspaper that my Grandad read every day, than any other reading materials. I adored my books, but the newspaper was a little window into the world. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the horrible ink that would rub off on your hands. Newspapers felt dirty to me, so I would turn the pages delicately using my fingertips.

Like most newspapers, the Daily Mirror featured news and current affairs on the front pages, and on the back pages they featured sport. Nan wouldn’t let me read the news because like any sensible grandma, she didn’t want her precocious grandchild to be upset by the awfulness of the world (although she did teach me a ‘Maggie Thatcher is a Milk Snatcher’ rhyme when I was 5!)

As a loophole, I realised I could get away with reading the newspaper’s sports pages. My childhood love of Liverpool Football Club was bolstered by the knowledge the newspaper gave me about the Premier League transfer window, and the comings and goings of players from different clubs. Perhaps it was slightly disturbing for certain members of my family to be corrected by this creepy kid who would pipe up from under their newspaper with pronouncements such as: “Actually, John Arne Riise says that he might not leave Liverpool until next season.”

Mum has since told me that ‘actually’ was my favourite word as a child. How insufferable, she deserves a medal for raising me.

At school we had the Encarta CD-Roms on the computer in the corner of our classroom (showing my age now). They were very basic interactive encyclopaedias and I would hog the computer for way longer than my allotted time so I could read about Egyptian kings and queens, or whatever I was obsessed with that week. There was also a CD-Rom where you could ‘travel’ all over the world and learn about countries. It was so vivid and immersive, showing you photos and videos of each country, which was pretty ground-breaking for 1996. Whenever I played it I could feel my mind whirring with the all the things it taught me. It felt both sublime and extremely comforting to learn new things.

I’ve never changed. Some people binge Netflix. When stressed, I like to mainline Wikipedia. If Wikipedia could be put into an IV drip that I could be hooked up to, I would absolutely sign up for it. Find me opening up a Wikipedia article on Joni Mitchell and a few hours later I’m still there, dehydrated and starving (without realising I am - hello lack-of-interoception). I will have somehow managed, through a series of clicks, to land on the history of Wensleydale cheese.

A key memory of my teenage years is figuring out that you could edit Wikipedia. Having the ability to show off your useless knowledge about the discography of Stevie Wonder whilst correcting the mistakes of others?! I need a lie down, the excitement is too much.

My love of trivia has only grown stronger as an adult. There are a number of extremely difficult quiz shows on the BBC on a Monday night that my partner and I watch religiously - Only Connect, Mastermind and University Challenge. One time Victoria Coren Mitchell, the wonderful host of Only Connect, replied to one of my tweets and I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I was absolutely beside myself with how star-struck I felt.

As I’ve grown older, this thirst for useless knowledge has become more specific and collided with my love of pop music of the past. There are two music based trivia quiz shows that we never miss - Pop Master TV and The Hit List.

This post originally was going to be about my specific love of all things pop music, but morphed into a more general one about trivia when I realised that the one special interest that has stayed with me throughout my whole life is trivia and collecting facts. Everything fascinates me. Information and facts bring me a sense of certainty, but I also have this sense of insatiable curiosity (I trained as a journalist and this attitude stood me in good stead.) Soon I will write a follow up post all about my special interest of pop music trivia!

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Ren