I have a nephew called Robert. About three years ago, when Robert was still quite small, I was in his bedroom with my husband Peter, and Robert's dad. As we were talking, my husband picked up Robert's Professor Gangrene doll, which had a particularly revolting, greenish face. And when my husband heard the doll's name, he said, "What I want to know is, where do all these criminal masterminds get their degrees from?" Whereupon Robert's dad immediately replied: "From the university of Evil."

Immediately, my antennae went up. That's how most writers work: we often get our best ideas from conversations like this.

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