Michael Jackson R.I.P.

On the day that it was also reported that Farrah Fawcett, star of the cult 70s TV show Charlie's Angels, had died following a lengthy battle with cancer, aged 62, I felt strangely ambivalent when I heard the news that the King of Pop had popped his clogs.

I wasn't a fan and he courted so much controversy that I felt it was rather a case of there's no smoke without fire. The most moving thing I saw was Jermaine Jackson making his statement to the press. This was a man with a family who loved him, and that in itself is something to be mourned. (I felt a similar way at the death of Princess Diana. Her death didn't upset me, but seeing her two young sons left motherless did have an effect.)

But whatever you or I might think of the former fairground-owning monkey's uncle, I cannot denied that he has left the world an almighty legacy the highlight of which, for me, was the seminal Thriller video - which was made by Vincent Price's voice over. It was probably one of a dozen (or more) sources of stimuli that indirectly influenced my fantasy writing and helped develop my fascination with the horror genre, with its prevalence of zombies and werewolves, and the fact that it was directed by John Landis who also directed one of the greatest werewolf movies of all time - if not the best - An American Werewolf in London. And I obviously the only one it inspired...