The Judge

After more than 40 years in and around the sports world I have learned how to make the most of my treasure chest of memories and the knowledge that I have picked up along the way. I am not telling you this to boast but to try to encourage you to consider ways you could make use of any specialist knowledge that you may have.

Two of my currant assignments that help me earn my daily bread are as The Judge columnist in the Sun sports section and as The Silver Surfer on the Sun's www.supergoals.com website (Talking Heads section). As The Judge I settle readers' sporting arguments, and I receive hundreds of postcards and e-mails over the course of a year. As The Silver Surfer, I "take a magic carpet ride" back into the past and recall great men, moments and matches from all our footballing yesterdays.

In each case, I put the idea up to The Sun. The lesson for you is not to sit back and wait for an approach. If you have a bright idea how you can fit your knowledge into a newspaper, magazine or internet feature then package it and submit it for possible publication.

You might, for instance, be an expert cook with a fresh and inventive idea how to put across recipes. Or maybe you are a film buff who could turn your knowledge into a starfile or some sort of daily game. Or perhaps a green-fingered gardener with an idea for a new approach to putting across gardening tips.

Newspaper editors have lots of space to fill, particularly in this day of supplements and magazine add-ons. Study the pages and see if there is a hole that you could fill with something innovative and interesting.

Don't just sit there. Write something. Oh yes, and while you're about it you might want to buy me a meal!