A chance comment by a work colleague made a long-time fan of author Jack Higgins a happy man. Sandra Henderson, Librarian-in-Charge of the Department of Education and Children’s Mobile Library, was told by her colleague Sally Hardman that her friend Sara Palmer was going to be interviewing author Jack Higgins in Jersey. Sara, who used to work for Manx Radio, now lives in Jersey and is a presenter for its BBC radio station. Sandra cheekily asked Sara, via Sally, whether she could obtain the best-selling author’s autograph for one of her Mobile Library customers, Alan Vokins, who has read 67 of Jack Higgins’ novels. Within a week, a paperback novel, signed and addressed to Alan Vokins from Jack Higgins, arrived and Sandra presented the book to the Glen Maye resident the next time he came on board. At first Mr Vokins thought the library was ‘having a laugh’ until his wife Mary pointed out that the book was genuinely dedicated to him by Jack Higgins on 7th March 2011. She observed: ‘He has even spelt your name correctly.’ Once the penny had dropped, Mr Vokins was over the moon and couldn’t believe that someone would go to so much trouble for him. He read Jack Higgins’ Exocet in the early 1980s and, along with his wife, has been reading the author’s novels ever since. He has a list of the few titles he is still to read and asks anyone who visits second-hand bookshops or who works in libraries to try to track down the elusive titles. His favourite books are the Sean Dillon thrillers. Jack Higgins has only upset him once – when he ‘bumped off one of his main characters, Hannah Bernstein’. Sandra said: ‘It was a pleasure to do this for Mr Vokins as I knew how much it would mean to him. I cannot believe how a chance comment led to a special day for one of our customers and our thanks go to Sara for making this possible.’ The Mobile Library covers 10 routes Island-wide, visiting each stopping point once a fortnight. It carries 3,000 titles on board and has a further 33,000 back at Noble’s Hall in Westmoreland Road, Douglas, where it is based. Membership costs just ?15 a year. For more information, contact 01624 673123 or visit http://www.gov.im/education/support/external/external_library.xml Ends