Two things come out of this for me now, Lucian’s very acute perception of the state of skateboarding in Britain just as it was about to go big-time again, and his sense of frustration. Wanting it and not wanting it. There were some very knowing sound-bites: “Publicity and money changes — everything. I’d like to to change me some more” and “I’ll Ollie all the way to the bank”, but the frustration seems to dominate the piece.

I don’t know where skating’s going. I think it’s going to the dogs really. There’s no energy in England. Nobody’s really good. I’m supposed to be good and really I’m not any good. I feel disappointed when I hear people getting stoked and thinking that I’m great, because I know I’m not. There’s a big delusion that we’ve got a pro scene in this country and we’ve got good skaters who are going to be pro.
I’ve been offered a pro model but I don’t want it because I’m not up to it really. I’ve been skating for such a long time that I don’t want to do it until I’m really ready. I want to turn pro, place tenth in my first comp and regularly come in the top ten in the States.

It’s really good to see an amateur who’s ripping like Lee Ralph: he’s over in America, skating like an animal, skating so hard and all the pros are scared of him. It’s great: I’d love to be there. That’s what I want to be: an amateur who’s tearing so hard you have to turn pro. Like Jeff Grosso. He won every competition for a year: there was no doubt about it when he turned pro.