Happy birthday to me!
Happy birthday to me!
Happy birthday, dear Darren!
Happy birthday to me!!!

Yep, it's my birthday today -- 51 years young!! To be honest, I don't pay much attention to my birthday these times, so I haven't done very much to celebrate it -- apart from have some fries with my wrap and four nuggets in McDonalds at lunchtime after we'd gone to pick up my son Dante, who'd spent the weekend camping with scouts for the first time. (My cholesterol is a bit high, so I've altered my diet massively in recent months, so this was a rare guilty treat!)

I thought it would be nice to share a few photos with you, charting my changing features over the last fifty-one years -- I've shared most of these before, so if you feel a sense of deja vu with any them, don't panic, you're NOT losing your marbles!!! :-)

The first was taken when I was a baby, in the loving arms of my beautiful mother.

The second was taken on my first day at school. If I look a bit younger than most first-day students, it's because I was only 3 years old!! Yup -- I turned 3 at the start of July, then started school two months later! Basically, I was a VERY wild child!! I'm sure I'd have been diagnosed with a number of disorders in this day and age, but being working class Irish in 1970s London meant we just got on with things and my parents did the best they could to keep a rein on me. My mum was a teacher, and didn't take time off work after having me, so having been looked after by my Granny in my first year, then by a family friend over the next couple of years, it was time for me to start pre-school. My mum was dreading it, because she knew I'd be getting into trouble all the time, and they'd be contacting her on a daily basis to come sort things out. Then her head teacher came up with a great working idea -- "Bring him into school and teach him in your class for the next two years." So that's what she did. Hey, it was the 70s, you could get away with crazy s**t like that back then!!!!

The third was taken in my more hirsute phase, when I was in my late teens or very early twenties -- I grew long hair and a beard after my first year at university, and held onto them for the next few years. I looked like a wild, dangerous creature of the mountains... and I was!!!

I've finished off with a selfie that I took just a few minutes ago. I tried a serious expression, and a daft smile, but growling Darren Shan is the face you all best know me for if you've ever come to one of my events or signings and had a photo taken with me, so in the end I decided to go with what works best for the camera!

If any of you want to get me a last-minute birthday present, all I'd ask is that you nip over to my monthly newsletter - search for Shanville Monthly online -- and Subscribe to my news updates -- you'll find a link on the left-hand side of the page. That way you can keep up to date with everything I do over the next 51 years, and at the very least you'll never miss one of my birthday again!!!