Mike Rimmer quizzed MARTIN AND ANNA SMITH about their new autobiographical books

Anna: Absolutely. He's tired and jet-lagged and got a load of washing. And I'm tired from looking after six children. So just being kind of normal about that and how we made that work and how tough that was. Just journeying through all those sort of things, really.

Mike: For the two of you a pivotal moment was of course the car crash, in August 1995, which figures very largely in both of your stories. It sounds like in some ways it was worse for you, Anna, because you were awake and seeing the state of Martin after the crash and worrying about him. That must have been horrendous for you.

Anna: Yes, that was definitely a big time for both of us. The uncertainty was awful. My nature is very much, 'OK, he's gone, this is a Keith Green moment, that's it, but his songs will go on forever'. Even in that short space of time I'd already in my head gone along a very dark track and made it hopeful.

Mike: And then for you Martin, you were blinking in and out of consciousness while all of this was happening.

Martin: Yes, I was enjoying the drugs at the time and I was hallucinating and I think it happened so fast: it was only once I got to hospital that I realised what had happened and I spent two weeks there, a broken leg, and the birth of a vision, I suppose. That's the positive way of looking at it, I guess.

Mike: And that vision, of course, was to form a full time band, which changed both of your lives didn't it Anna?

Anna: Yes, absolutely. The vision started together at that time and it was very much something that we were both into together. It was never just Martin's thing; it was definitely a together thing.

Mike: I guess it had to be that way for it to survive for so long. For the work of Delirious? to continue for so many years meant you really had to be right in the centre with that, Anna.

Anna: Absolutely. That was paramount. We used to go with the boys to America every April and I think that really helped me and the children to see what their Dad did. It helped boost my vision to see how it was changing people's lives and to see God moving in people's lives was just so exhilarating - to know that we were freeing him as a family and he was sent out as a family to do God's work. So that was really encouraging.

Mike: How's it been for you having him home for this last year?

Anna: Where do you want me to begin? It's been great, it's been tough. It has been like the first year of marriage, with its great moments and its really hard moments, to be honest with you. I became very self-sufficient; I didn't need him in some ways but really, really, really did. So, a real journey this year of normal troubles I think that people have when they live quite separate lives.

Mike: And that must have been difficult for you to adjust to as well Martin, having a wife who is self-sufficient, and slotting back into creating a married life together.

Martin Smith

Martin: Yes, there's been some brilliant days and some bad days and it has been a massive 12 month period of adjustment, which is still happening. You can't just change 15 years of doing something and just for it all to be perfect [when you stop]. So we are on a journey, but we're committed to it. And to each other and to the children too. But in general, I would say, it's been amazing. I've loved it. I've loved the space and the peace of it all and it's been a great creative time too.

Anna: I think that I didn't realise actually how many coping mechanisms I'd put in place, and that's quite a shock when he's now here, to realise that some of my coping mechanisms I don't need. But actually some of them I really like, so it's just about being really truthful about those things. I really liked to eat what I wanted when I wanted and to live quite a selfish life, really, and it was part of my coping mechanism. And how much I love him being around is fantastic. Learning to live together again, really.