At various stages of his life, and outside a full day job, Tim Constable has been a songwriter, musician, inventor and author. Recently his attention has turned to making animated films. Now, for the first time, all of it is under one roof. Or should that be... in one cave.

Whatever the discipline, the approach is the same: a spark of inspiration; a gelling of ideas; a deep, sometimes chaotic, follow-through of possibilities; then, when the time is ripe, crafting it all into an end result as good as he can get it.

WRITING:
A helpful children's hero, the NATO alphabet made painless, and The Unwitting*, a dark, speculative novel about one of the world's greatest tragedies

Charlie and Mike do the NATO alphabet is a new rhyme I've put together to memorise the NATO words, such as Tango for 'T'. It includes a Glossary with interesting background to those words.

Ian Campbell came up with the brilliant idea of The Adventures of Billy Bog Brush! I got involved through doing the illustrations, then helped him to make them like motivational stories for youngsters. We started a programme of reading the stories in infant schools and kindergartens, projecting the illustrations. The only thing that stopped it was COVID., We decided to make videos of us reading the stories. Watch them here!

ANIMATION:
Original animated films, and Tim's current obsession — it all began with a fighting bean!

ARTHUR, THE INCREDIBLE FIGHTING BEAN!
When Paris were a performing band, our main style was a kind of prog. pop. But we didn't mind doing other styles occasionally, hence this bit of madness! In making a video to the song, I was drawn in two directions - so I made both! ....Which version do you prefer?

COMING SOON...

The saga of Simon the Skyman

In 1980 my co-writer Clive Barnwell and I wrote a song, but weren't happy with the words, until we discovered the carol O Little Town of Bethlehem fitted perfectly! My band Paris recorded it, and subsequently I made my own very different version of it.

MUSIC
First piano lessons at four.
Coventry Cathedral Choir at nine
Songwriting with Clive Barnwell, mid-teens
Band to perform them, Paris,1978 -1983, reformed 2012 - 2016
1990s, electric ceilidh bands
1994 on, faith-based songwriting

The band Paris was formed in 1978 out of three members of Drops of Brandy specifically to perform music written by Clive Barnwell and myself.

A collection of faith-based songs written over the past 30 or so years. Even before I became a Christian, I had an interest in composing new music to old hymn words. I eventually called this Old Wine in New Wineskins.

Starting as long ago as 2008, I was playing with a software synth. builder called synfactory. I developed ways of combining interlocking sequences in a semi-random way, then developing the result into an easy-to-listen to track, which theoretically could play forever! In 2014, I started using Flowstone, giving far more control and range over the resulting sounds. but enough of the tech. talk, just enjoy the music!

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The ups and downs of PARIS, later known as PARISUK.

In 1978 the band Paris was formed out of three members of Drops of Brandy specifically to perform music written by Clive Barnwell and myself. We found a drummer and bassist to complete the line-up. After a year's rehearsing to get a set of original material right, we started gigging. We built up quite a few loyal fans. but the 2-TONE thing happened about the same time, and was a factor in us not being professionally managed. Purely out of frustration, we broke up in 1983. 30 years later, extraordinary circumstances re-united us, with the opportunity to record our music as it should have been 'just for posterity'. The results were so good, we released them as the album Unfinished Business. But in August 2016 a catastrophic personal event occured which brought all Paris related activity to an end.

CONTEMPORARY CHRISTIAN MUSIC Is mostly what I've been writing since the mid-1990s, putting some of it on public websites now and again over the years.

Around the early 2000s, I realised I'd have to make much better demo versions of my songs than the 'rough notes' recordings I'd been doing to date. I wanted them to sound something like a proper band, but despite all the musicians I knew, couldn't put one together, as they were scattered across the country. So I decided on a virtual band, and prayed about a name for it! God said "What's your favourite animal?" I said "What giraffes?" "Your OTHER favourite animal!" "Oh! Donkeys!!". So, my virtual band was The Donkeys, the name I've used on an off ever since. Here are some of the results. I've even used one or two from time to time in worship sessions. Please feel free to use any of them yourself if you feel led to.

Having met in the Midlands, Blackpool worship singer Judith McKay said she'd like to record one of my songs. I put the backing together in Coventry, she learned it in Blackpool, then came down to record it (and visit a few places at the same time). I had a web-cam and did an impromptu video session!

My version...

Paris version...

Late 1970s, Clive Barnwell and myself developed new music for the words of O Little Town of Bethlehem.
My band Paris liked it so we learnt and arranged it, and at gigs people started liking it.
When the lead singer's dad heard it, he was so moved he paid for us to record it at a proper studio (Q Studios) and get 1,000 pressings made. We'd done this nicely in time for Christmas.
Until the pressings arrived. Every one of them was warped. We sent them back demanding replacement, which we eventually got. But too late for that Christmas.
By next Christmas, we tried to sell a few, but the band had moved on.
Around 2005-2006 I re-imagined it in a completely different style and arrangement and developed recordings of it over the years.
Then the Paris re-union happened, and one of the songs they INSISTED on re-recording was O Little Town. We did, and we had contacts to add real brass, flute etc for a really orchestral sound. See the PARIS page for the full story of the band.

I've written a number of songs related to Christmas, including a comedy song and one based on the ideas that Jesus of Nazareth was NOT born on December 25th! Hence the title. These are all home recorded demos, so forgive me if some of them sound a little rough!

On my WRITING page you can learn more about Billy Bog Brush and his Adventures! You can even get PDFs of the free books. This is Ian and I reading the story with my illustrations.

My parents were part of a low-church parish with quite a strong sense of community. Nine years old, and I was accepted into Coventry Cathedral Choir, where I received my in-depth musical education. But all through this, there was little talk of God, or what Christianity was about. Like most people I had very much a 'don't know, don't care' attitude where spirituality played virtually no part of my life.
My first divorce changed all that.
I was very much the sort of person that life happened to, rather than making something of myself. I'd grown up with a chronic sense of low self-esteem, even though somewhere inside I felt I was capable of much more.
Without really realising it, divorce brought devastation and chaos into my life. I'd been associated with a local C of E church, mainly so that my children would have something of my early background. And I'd already made a start of a concept which I later call 'old wine in new wineskins'; finding hymn words which I thought were good but had a terrible tune, and writing contemporary music for them - totally unaware of what the Christian music scene was all about! (Although, back in the mid-80s, that was nothing like what it is today). My local church had little to say about the songs.

One Sunday evening, I was driving home along the Coventry ring-road. I spotted the lights and neon cross of a local non-denominational church, and the thought came to me - 'I bet they're more interested in modern music'! I swerved off the ring road, and made my way over.
When I walked through the door, I was utterly unprepared for what met me. An instant welcome for a stranger, a no-questions-asked acceptance. And the wonderful Pastor Michael Bonner preaching in a way that could have been directed straight at me, about the unconditional love of God, and the reality of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
After a few weeks, I was ready to commit, gave my life to The Lord, and made plans for my baptism. When I woke up the following day, it was as if Life had changed from monochrome to full technicolour - nothing of my doing; I'd been transformed inside by the power of God.
Has life been a bed of roses ever since? Hardly! Many difficulties, including a second divorce, and still no sign of any 'breakthrough' in my life. Except I was now providing keyboards as part of one or two praise-leading groups, and my songwriting had turned very faith-based. For a while, a network of young, African-community ministries enjoyed my energetic playing and leading!
I used many sources to expand the knowledge of my faith, and found myself directed to the areas of Faith, Science and Philosophy. But one thing I can say. In over 30 years as a Christian, that decision to give my life to Jesus is one I will NEVER regret.
All I would say is, whatever YOUR faith (or lack of it) is, start looking into what REAL Christianity is all about.