[3] As a child, he had a lisp, and when he was three years old he developed selective mutism, wherein he would speak to no-one except his parents and brother.

[citation needed] In 2019, Paphides launched Needle Mythology, a record label aimed at reissues of old albums that had not previously been available on vinyl.

[8] In October 2020, the label released its first album of new material, In Memory of My Feelings, an original collaboration between The Anchoress and Bernard Butler.

[2] The book was reviewed positively by Alan Johnson in New Statesman, who wrote that he had "never read anything that tells the immigrant’s story with such clarity and tenderness".

[11] He married Times columnist Caitlin Moran on 27 December 1999; they met while both were working for Melody Maker.