Hay Festival 2012: Why Phil Earle backs the underdog He showed slides of things that had meant a lot to him - from Art Spiegelman's brilliant comic book Maus, to boxing films such as Rocky ("dreadful but wonderful at the same time"). Earle also showed them a picture of Roy of The Rovers. Earle, a Hull City fan, said: "Ah, Roy of the Rovers. He's everything Wayne Rooney should be and will never be. He apologised to any Wales supporters in the room as he put up a picture of Bobby Moore holding the World Cup in 1966. "I was nearly stoned off the stage for doing that in Scotland last week," he joked. Earle is working on a new book about what the war in Afghanistan and he explained that his working conditions weren't fancy, saying: "I tend to write on the bus on the way home from work. I've got three young children and get bundled to the ground as soon as I get through the door - and by the time they are in bed, I just want to drink a vat of wine. Even if the teenagers didn't quite understand, all the parents and teachers present nodded sympathetically. At the end, there were some interesting questions from the floor. "What would you be if you weren't a writer?" he was asked, to which he replied: "Depressed." There was also time for some comedy gold, when one boy right at the back blew his nose with an extraordinarily loud blast. "What a critic," Earle shot back to loud laughter.