NINE years ago, a local undergraduate took up a part-time job at The Straits Times sports desk and found himself sitting next to a gangly, good-natured ang moh journalist.

Both became good friends as they shared similar musical tastes - specifically for Britpop and its biggest band at the time, Oasis.

That undergraduate was me.

The ang moh was Neil Humphreys, who became one of Singapore's best-selling authors.

After living here for 10 years, the 33-year-old Briton moved to Geelong, a town on the outskirts of Melbourne, two years ago.

He continues to write, both as a columnist and as an author, and has just released his fourth national bestseller, Be My Baby - On The Road To Fatherhood.

The book chronicles the birth of his first child, daughter Abbie Rose, and the joy and anxieties that went along with it.

In town last week to promote his book, we met up to talk about his latest work and, of course, chat about Oasis.

What kind of dad would write a book about the birth of his first child?

A nervous, scared and clueless dad. It's a magical mystery tour, and I didn't know the ending.

There's no book, no documentary either, that can prepare you for parenthood.

All those self-help textbooks make it worse, really, because they're full of "thou shalt nots".

You end up being afraid to do anything.

I was trying to express that I don't know anything, but I'm willing to learn. Any first-time father will be in the same boat.

At what point did you think that it would be a good idea to chronicle you and your wife's road to parenthood?

Well, my mum brought up the idea first, and, gradually, I began to take to the idea of making a record for posterity. Even if no one ever buys this book, at least my wife, Tracy, and I will have this permanent record, which we'll give to our daughter when she's a bit older.

Were you worried that people may think you were going on an ego trip by writing this book?

Not really, because I was the ignorant one in the book - asking silly questions, doing stupid things. It's more like an honesty trip!

You've always shown a great deal of respect for women in your books - your mum, your sister and Tracy. Has it gone up tenfold after your daughter's birth?

Oh, a thousandfold. No man can go through what pregnant women go through.

I mean, I'm sitting here with a slight cold right now, and I feel like I'm dying.

Tracy just got on with her pregnancy, no such nonsense.

She was brave, she was tough, and there was no self-pity - she got on with what needed to be done throughout her pregnancy.

And the pain she went through during labour - I'll never forget that.

So, how's fatherhood, five months after Abbie Rose's birth?

Every day, she does something new - her first smile, first giggle, first frown, even her first crap, was brilliant.

Looking back at the Britpop era in the mid- and late-1990s, how did that influence you as a creative person?

What I liked about that period was that, for the first time in quite a while, you have the working- class people going back to the fore, being creative again - Oasis writing No. 1 albums; Damien Hirst making controversial art; Irving Welsh's Trainspotting book.

It was happening all at once, and you think: "Well, I can do that."

So that's how a working-class bloke like me was inspired to write books. It's like being a dad. I could at least try and have a go at that.

• Be My Baby - On The Road To Fatherhood (Marshall Cavendish) can be found in major bookstores at $18.50 (before GST).

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