[Interactive bit: imagine the screen scrolling slowly upwards, or use your wheel mouse to create the effect, while singing the theme to ‘Star Wars’]

…I worked as a litigation lawyer. (Yes, I know… boo, hiss and all that). I have within me what I call my Robin Hood Complex. That is not a compulsion to wear tights and hang around in forests, but is a deep-seated desire to see justice for those who need it. So I did a law degree and worked as a litigation lawyer as a way of trying to do that. Not by chasing ambulances or by defending master criminals, but by offering advice and representation to people who needed help.

In the early days of working in that office I muddled my way through dictating letters (I had no idea what to do or how to punctuate verbally for the typists), answering phone calls and processing legal forms. I was supported by different secretaries who were assigned to other lawyers in the office and helped me out in their ‘spare time’. Eventually, however, the time came when I needed my own secretary. I was delighted when the Office Junior, Leanne, offered to do the job. She shared an office with two of the other young secretaries at the firm and it was through her that I acquired a nickname that I rather liked.

Leanne was from the Black Country originally and on one occasion was talking about me to the other secretaries, mentioning me by name: ‘Nick Lear’. Except that with her accent it sounded different to people from South Devon, and they thought she had said, ‘Nuclear’. When they told me I thought it was hilarious, but also secretly was delighted that I had now discovered a great name for use in other contexts:

Video Game High Score Tables. How cool would it look to see

1. Nukelear 15674390 points
2. Joe Bloggs 9086875 points
etc.

The fact that I was highly unlikely ever to hit the top of a high score table did not dampen my enthusiasm. A little self-delusion goes a long way.

Email address. I thought it was unlikely that many other people would have ‘nukelear@my isp.com’ so it would be a bit different and a bit of fun.

Screen name in multi-player computer games. The tough-sounding persona behind ‘Nukelear’ would adequately mask my inadequacies, at least until the first action had started.

But, I hear you ask, why ‘Nukelear Fishing’? Well it was initially intended as a pun, based on ‘nuclear fission’ but after a while I decided that it was also representing my attempts to share the good news about Jesus, which he described to someone else as being like ‘fishing for people’.

So now you know.