"ARGH!!" was the first word Tim Quinn uttered on arrival on this planet back in 1953. The way things are going he believes it is likely to be the last word he utters too. He certainly manages to cram a lot in between birth and death. As he explains, "Life is all downhill after the age of....two." While still in his crib, the world of comic books enters his life as his elder brother''s copy of the ''Beano'' causes a house fire leaving tiny Tim trapped in a smoke-filled room. Even earlier than that we hear how he was born striped due to his mother''s wartime diet of powdered eggs causing her to nickname him ''Tiger Tim'' after her favourite comic book character. Education under the iron fist of the Irish Christian Brothers leaves Quinn with a diploma for playing truant. They insist on him entering either the banking or holy clerical professions. Instead, at age sixteen, he runs away to become a clown in Blackpool Tower Circus. And so begins a life
