Students interview stars for mag

Shropshire students have been rubbing shoulders with television personality Julian Clary and singer KT Tunstall as part of a ground-breaking initiative.

Former Marvel Comics editor Tim Quinn and the late-Gillian Baverstock, who died last year and was the eldest daughter of Enid Blyton, launched the scheme to give aspiring young writers in the county a chance to have their work in print before they have even left school.

Launched under the banner of their Shrewsbury-based Quill Publications before Gillian's death, the initiative gives students the chance to interview celebrities and see their work in print.

Others who have agreed to be interviewed include Burn Gorman, who is one of the stars of BBC's Torchwood series, Blue Peter's Gethin Jones, and Sir Tim Rice.

Mr Quinn said he and Gillian met and decided to join forces to create Quill Publications. After a national newspaper carried a negative interview about Gillian they decided to look at ways they could change the stance on such interviews in the next generation of journalists.

He said: "I concocted this idea where we would go into schools and find students who have a talent for writing and interviewing and we could set up interviews with major names and celebrities.

"I started approaching schools with the idea and ran into a guy who runs Country & Border Life magazine who was keen to carry the interviews.

"The end result would be the students would have in their possession a professional magazine featuring their interview with a celebrity and they would have that in their portfolio before they even left school."

Mr Quinn, who has also produced episodes of the South Bank Show, began writing to celebrities, many of whom wrote back to say they felt it was a "wonderful idea".

He added: "As we've got a few interviews under our belts I would like it to grow and grow. It's incredibly rewarding."

For details visit www.mightyquinnmanagement.com or call (01743) 355332.

By John Kirk