Perhaps you’ve spent the last several weeks with superglue in your ears and lying unconscious at the bottom of a mineshaft full of cotton wool – somewhere on Mars. If so, then you’re probably the only human left who hasn’t heard: Michael Jackson died.

The King of Pop’s final curtain-call came as a surprise to most of us, apart, it seems, from the tribute documentary makers who, within 12 minutes of the shaky LA ambulance videos being aired, had rustled up enough memorial TV reminisces to fill a couple of weeks worth of broadcasting…

For weeks – do you remember? – Jackson filled every channel, newspaper and magazine. In the deluge I kept seeing Jackson’s 1983 performance of Billy Jean where he unleashed the moonwalk on to a gasping crowd. It’s a great piece of footage, a be-gloved Jackson waggles his leg then snaps his ankles through right angles (these are all technical dancing terms) and, suddenly, he’s defying nature itself by sliding backwards while walking forwards. The crowd go so wild you can hear their eyes popping out. This isn’t the original but it’s a brilliant example of MJ doing the move:

Any life skill that makes it look like the laws of physics are melting is ok by me, and so, as a testament to the late, great Michael Jackson – I decided to learn how to do it. Or at least try.

A Two Sentence History of the Moonwalk.
Michael Jackson popularised the move but didn’t invent it. The ‘backslide’ has been around since the thirties at least and was a favourite of mime lord Marcel Marceau.

Learning the Moonwalk.
YouTube is, of course, packed with tutorials and tips. I started off with this one. While you’re practising you can get some inspiration from watching Obama’s moonwalk, or, strangely, a dog – possibly with worms – doing it too:

Two good tips if you want to learn too: Start off in socks on your kitchen floor, and never, ever tell anyone at work or you’ll end up on the work blog and YouTube yourself.

This part one of my learning curve. Depending on how quick I learn, this could turn into a very long series…