Have you ever done a search on your own name on the Internet?

I have. It seems that there are many other Bob Blackmans, far more famous than I am. The most famous Bob Blackman of all is listed on Wikipedia and was an innovative American football coach who died in 2000, aged 81. I'm not listed on Wikipedia yet. Apparently you're not supposed to list yourself. I have tried. I also tried to persuade some of my famous friends to mention me, on the promise that I will mention them but they are being too British and modest about this. I'll keep one of them and eventually they'll agree, especially writing yet the point across about the importance of being listed on the Internet when you're authors like they are.

Having said that, my first amateurish attempt at a promotional video appears alongside an entry for the football coach Bob Blackman on FamousWhy. Now that I've got my voice back (I'm dictating this again on Dragon NaturallySpeaking), I'm really going to have to prioritise making a better video.

The second most famous Bob Blackman is best known as host of "The Folk Tradition" on WKAR-FM 90.5, every Sunday at 6:00 p.m. in East Lansing, Mitchigan. As well as working on radio, he also writes for various magazines although he is a computer analyst by profession. I'm not sure if American folk music is similar to British folk music. I suspect it is dangerously like country and western, which just rubs me up the wrong way for some reason. Or it is something like the songs or by Bob Dylan or Joan Baez. These would be much more to my taste -- so long as they are not sung by Bob Dylan. David Bowie described this man's voice is the sound of sand and glue and although I think he's a very clever songwriter I think his spoils his own songs by seeing them. In June of integration

Number three in the hit parade for Bob Blackmans is really a Robert Blackman, who, despite this handicap, still manages to get in to the Bob Blackman top three. For Robert Blackmans, this guy is deffo the number one. He's the costume designer for Star Trek The Next Generation and has been designing aliens and Starfleet uniforms for years. I suppose designing new life forms is pretty Godlike, so I reckon he deserves this high ranking in the Bob Blackman league. He may not have created his own universes, as I have, but he's brought something of the future to the big and small screens and millions of people enjoy his work. Not only that, but he has beaten me to be interviewed by the BBC and had a fictional member of the USS Enterprise named after him.

It seems that your web presence improves dramatically if you are an American, but a number four of the Bob Blackmans, is Cllr Robert Blackman who has been a Conservative party representative on Brent Council in London since 1986. In addition to his political duties, Bob Blackman works for BT and is also listed on Wikipedia. Although he is a Conservative, I think I might be able to forgive him this. In 2008, Cllr Blackman was accused of permitting the victimisation of black Tory party members but he strenuously denied this. I'm sure that with a surname like ours, the irony of being accused a racist is not lost on him. My father was born in London so maybe Cllr Blackman is my closest famous relative.

Bob Blackman number five is another American and a science-fiction author. Also known as Padre Bob, he is the author of "The Commission", which explores the question of how Christian beliefs could change over an eighty year period following the colonisation of a new planet. This Bob Blackman is a retired 59-year-old Baptist pastor originally from Washington State but now living in Oregon. "The Commission" is available on Amazon and Padre Bob writes poetry and short stories.

I think it's interesting that he comes from the North Western states of the US. In doing this search into the name of Blackman, I came across the Blackman Bros who invented a steam locomotive that ran along tree trunks instead of steel rails. This device was built for the brothers by the North Pacific Iron Works of Seattle in August 1881 and featured on this site that's devoted purely to geared steam locomotives, which have a long tradition of working in the logging industry.

In at Number 6 is the Bob Blackman who used to sing the song "Mule Train" whilst bashing himself over the head with a tin tray. I can remember this act from years ago but never knew he was called Bob Blackman. I think he was something of a one-hit wonder but was obviously not what the legal profession would call a thin skull case. It's worth watching the video on YouTube. My favourite bit is where he hurts his fingers. I think it was probably just part of the act but it's a beautiful moment. Considering his energetic performance, he wasn't a bad singer, really. He ought to be on Wikipedia as well but is probably dead now.

Bob Blackman number seven is the Principal at Kaboom Consulting, Jacksonville, Florida and at number eight is Bob Blackman, vice president of business development at RealtyUSA, who was interviewed in Business Review in 2008.

I don't appear in the ranking of Bob Blackmans until position number nine. That's discounting Guru Bob Blackman (an advert for network marketing and ) and Steal Bob Blackman's Secrets, which turned out to be the same thing.

I feel some consolation in the fact that I made it into the top 10. Increasing my website ranking will be quite a challenge in such illustrious company but I have a sneaking suspicion that during 2009 there could be other Bob Blackmans about to burst onto the Internet, who could knock me out of the top 10. It's going to be an interesting year.

Yeah, but who's the best looking? Honestly.

Highest ranking yet on Amazon

Regular readers of this blog will know that I don't check ranking on Amazon. Not very much.

I had some visitors today and was just showing them my website when they asked me how did it look on Amazon and when we looked The Horsepower Whisperer was ranked 29,683 overall. I couldn't believe it.

It is also currently (as I write) No.32 in Contemporary Fantasy and No.97 in Sci Fi Adventure! That last statistic is a new one. I've never been in the Sci-Fi Top 100 before. And I'm just a gnat's whisker away from getting into the Fantasy Top 30!

Bob Blackman interviewed in The Herald

Today I featured in a Little Interview in The Herald, The Voice of Plymouth. I only just qualified for inclusion as I live in Liskeard but when I pointed out that I work in the dockyard Features Editor Martin Freeman relented and sent me his questions.

What was particularly instructive for me was that only one of my publicity photographs was of a suitable size and quality for reproduction in the paper. So no scary pictures of me blowing up oil refineries like there are on my blogs.

I'm pleased with the result, though, and had to restrain myself from showing everybody on the train this evening my picture in the paper. I might one day manage to be blase about this kind of thing but even if I could I doubt if I will. I still think it's something to be excited about.

Click on the adjacent pictures to see larger images.