Tickets to the Nancy Cartwright evening at the Broadway sold out way in advance of the night. Even the press had to pay to get into this event. What was everyone after?

As Nancy entered at the back of the Screen One everyone's necks craned to see what flesh and bones Bart looked like.

Nancy looks like a non-persona. So much so that her first words on stage, to reassure everyone that Bart was in the room, were in character - 'I'm Bart Simpson, who the hell are you?'

She took up centre stage with a host sitting opposite her, playing Parky for the night. And so began our journey through her life before Bart.

Can you believe this woman tells people to "eat my shorts."

She knew she wanted to do voice-overs from the age of seven - she coined the phrase 'eat my shorts' when pausing for breath during band practice at school.

She won several national oratory awards at an early age then phoned Daws Butler, the voice of Yogi Bear, on the off chance and ended up transferring universities so that she could take up private tuition with him.

She's worked both in front of and behind the camera but her job as Bart is her perfect career.

We then went into a question and answer session with the audience to cover Bart's voice. This was a shame - the questions were pretty inconsequential - asked by many of the younger members of the audience.

I suspect that if Nancy had been allowed to continue many of them would have missed their bedtime. She enjoyed narrating.

The evening was an enjoyable one although I felt slightly out of sorts. I am a Bart fan. I enjoy the clever writing of the cartoon but here I felt like an impostor, not recognising all the character imitations, not sharing the in-jokes.

This feeling of being almost an outsider carried over the book signing at the end of the night. Book signing, after all this was a promotional tour. I had the three prize copies to get signed.

On approaching her desk Nancy's agent loudly commented that I was the sort of fan that was needed. Six copies, Nancy looked up at me. "Great idea, novel Christmas presents. Do you record all the shows?"

I do not have the propensity to tell a straight lie. "No, not all of them...unfortunately," I blushed, and scampered off.

I left the auditorium not only embarrassed but curious. Nancy had told a little bit of her story but not enough for me. Not enough to get past the initial smile when you shake someone's hand.

I do not feel as I could pass comment on her. You'll have to read the book and make up your own mind - I haven't yet.