STEELTOWN MURDERS | THE STONES AND BRIAN JONES | WITHOUT SIN

This article was originally published in The Courier on 13th May 2023.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Steeltown Murders – Monday, BBC One, 9pm

In 1973, three girls from the Port Talbot area were raped and murdered. This horrific case remained unsolved for 30 years, when the killer was finally identified through the use of pioneering DNA evidence. 

An absorbing factual drama, Steeltown Murders stars Philip Glenister as DCI Paul Bethell, the veteran copper who reopened the case. The narrative flits between the early 2000s and 1973, when Bethell was an idealistic young CID officer intent on capturing the girls’ killer. 

The overall tone is suitably solemn and subdued. Although we follow two of the girls on their final night out together, thankfully their ordeal isn’t shown. 

And on a purely aesthetic level, the 1970s period details are never overdone. It feels authentic.

The Stones and Brian Jones – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

At the age of 14, while traveling by train, Nick Broomfield bumped into ill-fated Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones. 

Broomfield, now one of our most celebrated documentarians, has never forgotten that brief encounter with a young man who, despite his wild rebel image, came across as quiet and polite. 

This Arena documentary recounts the sad, messy tale of a talented musician beset by chronic insecurity. Jones was charming, intelligent, selfish, spiteful and fragile. He craved love from his disapproving posh parents and respect from eventual Rolling Stone leaders Jagger and Richards. 

Insight into the psyche of this complicated cat is provided by various friends and lovers, but Bill Wyman is the only Stone who sits down with Broomfield.

Without Sin – Monday to Thursday, STV, 9pm

An addictive psychological thriller, Without Sin reunites This is England actors Johnny Harris and Vicky McClure, who also serve as executive producers. 

McClure plays Stella, whose teenage daughter Maisy was murdered three years ago. When a restorative justice officer informs Stella that Maisy’s killer (Harris) is prepared to atone for his sins, she hesitantly agrees to meet with him in prison. 

For reasons I obviously can’t go into, an already fraught situation becomes even more complicated. 

Not only does Without Sin succeed as a twist-strewn thriller, it also works as a nuanced meditation on guilt, grief and trauma. As you’d expect, Harris and McClure are both excellent. Some of their scenes together are electrifying.

Matt Willis Fighting Addiction – Wednesday, BBC One, 9pm

Matt Willis of Busted fame appeared to be living the dream during his bubblegum punk heyday. However, as he admits during this frank documentary, he was addicted to drugs and alcohol. “It was not rock and roll… it was really sad.” 

These days Willis is in recovery, but like so many addicts he lives in fear of a relapse. It’s a thoughtful essay during which Willis goes in search of the various recovery methods available to anyone who struggles with addiction. 

We also hear from his wife, TV presenter Emma Willis, who describes what it’s like to be in love with someone in the throes of self-destruction. Hats off to all concerned, this is a valuable piece of television.

11 Minutes: America’s Deadliest Mass Shooting – Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm

In 2017, at a country music festival in Las Vegas attended by over 20,000 fans, a gunman began firing at random. 60 people were killed and 867 others were injured. 

Told from the perspective of concertgoers, musicians and police officers, this intense four-part documentary offers a detailed account of the tragedy. It captures the terror, confusion and chaos. We don’t see anyone being killed, thank God, but the camera phone footage is horrifying. 

I’ve only seen episode one, but it feels to me like a ruminative comment on the complex nature of American society. Country music fans are, broadly speaking, right-leaning patriots who believe in the right to bear arms. It’s all such a mess, so terribly sad.

Anton Danyluk on Body Shame – Thursday, BBC Scotland, 10:30pm

Showing as part of Mental Health Awareness Week, this sensitive documentary follows Love Island star and fitness influencer Anton Danyluk as he confronts the pressing issue of male body confidence. 

According to reports from the Mental Health Foundation, more than a quarter of teenage boys and young men in Scotland are anxious about their body image. 

Danyluk relates to them, as he was once an insecure overweight kid. He’s also received online abuse for his current gym-buffed appearance, and worries that he’s inadvertently contributed to unrealistic expectations of what men’s bodies should look like. 

Danyluk comes across as a bright, thoughtful, self-aware fella. He delivers his report with commendable concern and honesty.

Rolf Harris: Hiding in Plain Sight – Thursday, ITVX

With his career and reputation now in tatters, it’s perhaps easy to forget that Rolf Harris was once a fondly regarded entertainer. Cuddly Uncle Rolf radiated bonhomie, he seemed utterly harmless. 

In 2014 he was found guilty of 12 counts of indecent assault. His victims were underage girls.

This carefully crafted two-part documentary illustrates how predatory celebrities can exploit their status to abuse and traumatise vulnerable people. Harris was a cruel, selfish, arrogant and manipulative man who knew how to present himself as the exact opposite. 

The programme contains testimonies from some of his accusers. It also investigates the decades-long grooming of a childhood friend of Harris’ daughter, which began when she was 13.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Mad Women – Tuesday 9th May, Channel 4

This enjoyable documentary showcased some of the great British female advertising executives who revolutionised the way women are represented in ads. 

It was a gradual process, and not without its hiccups, but that pioneering generation of feminists did eventually banish all those condescending sexist depictions of women as blandly idealised housewives. 

The execs all came across as likeable and self-aware. They happily admitted to some of their well-meaning mistakes. That infamous Shake n’ Vac advert, for instance, was a light-hearted bit of nonsense, but it could hardly be regarded as progressive. 

Still, they more than made up for it with their many subsequent campaigns characterised by an empowering combination of sly irony and total sincerity.

Kids – Wednesday 10th May, Channel 4

Filmed in close conjunction with Coventry Children’s Services, Kids gives voice to some of the young people who rely upon our care system. It also spends time with their troubled parents.

Last week we met Xorin, who’d been moved to a residential children’s home in rural Wales for his own safety. In Cov, he’d become involved with a violent drugs gang. The programme followed Xorin as he returned to live with his mum after three years away. 

Meanwhile, Annabelle – an abundantly wise and likeable young woman - struggled to reconnect with her parents. 

Kids is an entirely sympathetic endeavour, it approaches its participants with admirable sensitivity. The world’s worst people will miss the point, but you can’t legislate for that.

MARYLAND + BRITAIN'S TOURETTE'S MYSTERY: SCARLETT MOFFATT INVESTIGATES + THE OUTLAWS

This article was originally published in The Courier on 16th July 2022.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Maryland – Wednesday, BBC Two, 10:05pm

I urge you to watch this. Originally performed at London’s Royal Court in 2021, Lucy Kirkwood’s 30-minute play confronts the heinous everyday issue of violence against women. 

Mary and Mary (Zawe Ashton and Hayley Squires) meet for the first time at a police station in the dead of night. They’ve both been assaulted by men. We follow them over the course of a humiliating investigative process loosely overseen by an excruciatingly jocular and insensitive policeman (Daniel Mays).

A savage indictment of standard police procedure in cases such as these, Maryland is driven by fury and compassion. It does not flinch from the appalling injustice of a society in which women are forced to live in fear.

Long Lost Family Special: The Unknown Soldiers – Monday, STV, 9pm

Four years ago in Belgium, the remains of nine British soldiers were discovered in a trench on what was once a World War One battlefield. 

In this typically sensitive edition of ITV’s stalwart DNA search, hosts Nicky Campbell and Davina McCall team up with an official MOD unit colloquially known as the War Detectives. Their mission: to identify those long-lost fallen soldiers and formally lay them to rest. 

Campbell and McCall meet up with some of their descendants. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the War Detectives, the time has now come for them to pay their final respects. As you would expect, the dénouement is very poignant. It’s a reunion of sorts, a moment of closure.

Super Surgeons: A Chance at Life – Monday, Channel 4, 10pm

Filmed over the space of a year at London’s esteemed Royal Marsden Hospital, this illuminating three-part series follows surgeons and patients as they grapple with reaching a difficult mutual decision: to operate or not? 

The Royal Marsden provides specialist cancer treatment. Some patients can be saved. Others, alas, cannot. 

The series begins with Jade, who has a cancerous tumour in her throat. The quite clearly brilliant surgeon, Professor Paleri, uses a surgical robot in an attempt to improve Jade’s chances of survival. Paleri has never attempted this procedure before. If he makes a mistake, Jade might never be able to speak or swallow again. 

Britain’s Tourette’s Mystery: Scarlett Moffatt Investigates – Tuesday, Channel 4, 10pm

Yes, I know: why is that woman from Gogglebox presenting a documentary about Tourette’s? Well, Moffatt is a nice, bright, empathetic person. If we must have celebs fronting serious documentaries, we may as well encourage the likes of Moffatt. She does a pretty good job here. 

In the last 18 months, there has been a marked increase in physical and verbal tics among children and teenagers; a mental health crisis magnified by lockdown. Some of these young people have formed support networks via social media, but that has presented its own set of problems. 

It’s a thoughtful, nuanced, inquisitive programme. Moffatt asks gently direct questions and actually listens. “I’ve got a newfound respect for Louis Theroux,” she smiles at one point.

Unvaccinated – Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm

Medical experts are warning that we’re about to enter a fifth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. Approximately five million adults in the UK still haven’t received a single dose of the vaccine. Why? 

In this documentary, Professor Hannah Fry brings seven unvaccinated people together under one roof. She wants to understand their reasons for refusing the vaccine. At the end of the experiment, the main point of which is to highlight the severe dangers of misinformation, some of Fry’s participants are forced to question their fears and beliefs. 

I haven’t seen the programme, it wasn’t available in time for my deadline, but Fry is always worth listening to.  

The Supervet: Noel Fitzpatrick – Thursday, Channel 4, 8pm

Let joy be unconfined, animal lovers, Professor F is back. A leading veterinary surgeon, his latest series kicks off (albeit gently) with a typical cavalcade of mildly perilous yet ultimately uplifting cases. 

This week’s patients include a large garrulous dog who may well require some hip replacement surgery, an adorably boisterous kitten with a suspected tibia injury, and a police dog afflicted with some painful stomach and spine issues. 

It’s easy to take shows such as this for granted. After all, they don’t amount to much in the grand scheme of things. But they’re put together with a certain amount of unassuming artistry. Without ever resorting to outright cynicism or chicanery, they sculpt heart-warming narratives you cannot resist.

First Dates – Thursday, Channel 4, 10pm

Another year, another series of this occasionally quite sweet and ultimately harmless dating show. You know the drill by now. Suave maître d’ Fred Sirieix and his affable factotums welcome another bunch of hopeful love seekers into their surveillance restaurant.

Your first daters this week include a self-proclaimed ‘typical Essex lad’ who subscribes to an extreme beauty regime. Spoiler: his body is entirely hairless like an Action Man. This smooth operator’s date likes what she sees, he ticks various boxes, but will she be able to accept his unorthodox line of work? 

We also meet an eccentric art gallery owner who moonlights as a gas fitter. Life’s rich pageant in all its glory.

LAST WEEK’S TV

My Life as a Rolling Stone – Saturday 11th July, BBC Two

It was Keith and Ronnie’s turn last week. A sympatico double bill. 

Ronnie’s episode was enjoyable. As always, he came across as a nice, talented chap who is understandably liked by everyone. But the Keith episode was borderline fascinating at times.

The overarching theme was outwardly expressed by Mick and Tom Waits, the latter being a friend who understands the dangers of succumbing to a contrived dissolute persona. 

Keith is an introverted music geek, a sensitive soul who invented ‘Rock Wildman Keith Richards’ as a way of avoiding reality. Drink and drugs helped to support that fantasy, until they didn’t. Keith didn’t exactly deny that. 

The main takeaway point was this, however: Keef is an incredibly gifted musician and songwriter.

The Outlaws – Sunday 12th July, BBC One

Farwell, then, Stephen Merchant’s The Outlaws. A splendid piece of entertainment. 

It was a heartfelt comedy thriller knowingly influenced by Scorsese, Breaking Bad, Billy Wilder and, of course, Merchant’s own warm, daft, parochial comic sensibilities. I’ll miss those characters. 

And I really can’t stress this enough (although I’m about to): the gulf in quality between Merchant’s solo output and that of his erstwhile collaborator is staggering. The heart and soul of The Office? That clearly all came from Merchant. 

The other chap was great as David Brent, an outstanding comic performance, but everything he’s done on his own has been facile, lazy and embarrassing. 

I look forward to seeing what Merchant does next.

TWO DOORS DOWN + AIDS: THE UNHEARD TAPES + MY LIFE AS A ROLLING STONE

This article was originally published in The Courier on 9th July 2022.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Two Doors Down – Tuesday, BBC Two, 10pm

A deserved hit, this sitcom about a group of suburban Glasgow neighbours is back for a fifth series. 

Episode one introduces us to Alan’s taciturn brother, who is about to get married. Hapless Alan is the best man, which triggers a running gag among his perplexed neighbours: “Did somebody drop out?” 

Two Doors Down isn’t plot-driven, it’s all about the dialogue and characterisation. Nothing much happens, but there’s a lot going on. You wouldn’t necessarily want to spend time with some of these people in real life, but observing them from afar is delightful. That’s basically a sitcom maxim, I know, but the point still stands.

The writers and their faultless cast are so fully au fait with this claustrophobic little world they’ve created, everything flows with a naturally awkward rhythm. It’s great.

Filthy Business – Monday, BBC Three, 8pm

During the various lockdowns, best mates Cam and Oli decided to start up their own waste management business. It hasn’t been easy. 

Due to a recent unexpected downturn in their fortunes, they have to make £7,000 in a month just to keep the whole thing afloat. Fortunately, a sputtering glut of jobs come their way throughout this documentary, but that doesn’t mean they’re entirely home and dry. 

Cam and Oli are nice lads who know what they’re doing. They work hard at the reeking coalface of an unglamorous and often precarious profession. 

This is a fairly typical BBC Three documentary, in that it’s a slight yet watchable affair. It’s also a rather sweet little portrait of friendship.

AIDS: The Unheard Tapes – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

The third and final episode of this excellent series begins in 1992, when the emergence of a supposed ‘miracle cure’ gave hope to millions of AIDS patients and their loved ones. 

Crushing disappointment ensued when trials proved that the drug in question, AZT, could prolong the lives of some patients, but it couldn’t stop people from dying. This led to an angry backlash against the medical community. Several direct action protest groups sprang up. Many within the gay community lost count of the amount of funerals they attended. 

As always, contributions from present-day survivors, experts and campaigners are woven together with seamlessly lip-synced interviews recorded with AIDS patients throughout the 1980s and 1990s. An important historical document.

24 Hours in A&E – Monday, Channel 4, 9pm

The 27^th (!) series of this hardy perennial returns to St George’s in London. Not only is it one of Europe’s largest hospitals, it’s also renowned as a staff training centre. 

The latest episode follows a junior doctor who for the first time in his career carries out a fine-needle aspiration. His patient is a teenager with a collapsed lung. We also meet Mery, a young pregnant woman who is rushed to A&E after falling down a flight of stairs at home. Mery has already suffered a miscarriage, it’s been a long struggle to become pregnant again. 

This particular episode wasn’t available for preview, but 24 Hours in A&E is a show you can rely on. It’s quietly exceptional.

Ackley Bridge – Monday to Friday, Channel 4, 10pm, 10:15pm and 11:05pm

C4’s comedy-drama about a multicultural academy school in Yorkshire has established itself as a more authentic version of Waterloo Road. It’s adept at tackling various issues in a thoughtful and sometimes funny way. 

As series five begins, budding influencer Marina is flunking all her subjects. She’s insecure and a little bit lost, hence why she’s more concerned with being voted the most attractive girl in school. 

Meanwhile, a newly arrived English teacher attempts to educate her students about systems of oppression, but her idealism is mostly met with indifference. Marina’s ‘Hot or Not?’ poll grabs their attention instead. 

All ten episodes – some of which are directed by Top Boy’s Ashley Walters - are stripped throughout the week.

Night Coppers – Tuesday, Channel 4, 9pm

I haven’t seen Night Coppers, folks, but if you were grimly compelled by Martin Freeman in The Responder recently, then you might ‘enjoy’ this new observational documentary series about the fuzz on patrol after dark. 

Based in Brighton, it’s a frontline exercise steeped in violent antisocial behaviour. Episode one follows a pair of rookie coppers as they investigate a suspected arson. They also have an awkward encounter with an ex-police guvnor. 

We then spend time with female officers investigating a possible street assault that has left a man with life-threatening injuries. Another cop discovers someone horizontal in a bush. All in a night’s work. 

I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to being diverted by rubbernecking shows such as this.

Super Telescope: Mission to the Edge of the Universe – Thursday, BBC Two, 8pm

The most technically advanced telescope ever built, the James Webb is 100 times more powerful than Hubble. 

It’s primary mission: to examine distant stars and galaxies which may provide us with a greater understanding of what happened around 200 million years after the Big Bang. The actual origins of life as we know it. 

A hugely ambitious and almost unfathomably intricate project, it’s the subject of this illuminating Horizon documentary. 

We hear from some of the NASA engineers who have been working on the James Webb since its conception in the late 1980s. Their efforts may result in the deepest ever images of our universe. They might even detect signs of life on distant planets. Prepare to be awed.

LAST WEEK’S TV

My Life as a Rolling Stone – Saturday 2nd July , BBC Two

The Stones celebrate their 60^th anniversary this year, so here’s a series in which Mick, Keith and Ronnie reflect upon seven decades (well, six for Ronnie) spent inside a totemic rock ‘n’ roll band. Episode four is devoted to the great Charlie Watts, who passed away last year. 

Naturally, it began with Mick. At the start of his lengthy interview, one of rock’s greatest frontmen declared that he wanted to cut through all the myths and clichés. Unfortunately, that was undermined by unnecessary contributions from famous fans and a narrator who regurgitated all the myths and clichés. 

Mick was reliably twinkly, self-aware and eloquent. I wish the programme had focused more on what he had to say for himself.

Freedom: 50 Years of Pride – Saturday 2nd July, Channel 4

The centrepiece of Channel 4’s season devoted to UK Pride’s 50^th anniversary, this comprehensive documentary celebrated a hugely significant activist movement. 

It correctly observed that attitudes towards the LGBTQ+ community have improved since 1972. Society has, broadly speaking, progressed. A hard-fought battle, but it’s not over yet. 

Director Stephen Daldry’s film didn’t shy away from the various schisms which have broken out in the movement over the years, but it was at heart a celebration of bravery, defiance and solidarity, a message exemplified by newly shot footage of an intimate concert at London’s legendary gay entertainment venue, the Vauxhall Tavern. 

A particularly moving moment: several generations of Pride activists watching Holly Johnson sing The Power of Love.

TV Review: MELVYN BRAGG ON TV: THE BOX THAT CHANGED THE WORLD + ROCK 'N' ROLL GUNS FOR HIRE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE SIDEMAN

This article was originally published in The Courier on 8 July 2017.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/category/lifestyle/entertainment/tv-film/

MELVYN BRAGG ON TV: THE BOX THAT CHANGED THE WORLD: Saturday, BBC Two

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL GUNS FOR HIRE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE SIDEMAN: Friday, BBC Four

It’s no exaggeration to claim that the birth of Melvyn Bragg triggered a cultural revolution of staggering importance.

That much I gleaned from MELVYN BRAGG ON TV: THE BOX THAT CHANGED THE WORLD, a two-hour muse-a-thon in which the veteran arts nabob examined the myriad ways in which British television has reflected, challenged and transformed society over the last 60 years.

Clips from his own - admittedly unforgettable – interviews with Dennis Potter and Francis Bacon were included among the wealth of familiar archive material, lest we forget that Lord Bragg has played a major role in bringing culture to the masses.   

The programme spliced a series of Bragg-narrated essays on various key areas – news, documentary, drama, comedy – with sensible round-table discussions from broadcasting luminaries such as Joan Bakewell, Michael Grade and Ken Loach.   

They didn’t have to work particularly hard to support the overarching point that television is the most important technological innovation since the Industrial Revolution.

This window to the world has expanded our horizons via explorations of inner and outer space while chronicling the ways in which society has developed over the last seven decades.

It’s brought truth to power by making politicians more accountable. It’s challenged lies and prejudices, broken down class, race and gender barriers, and brought news of vital historic import into our homes with increasing speed.

However, as Bragg observed, it’s also undermined these noble egalitarian achievements by presenting simplified, reactionary and sometimes dangerously irresponsible reflections of society past and present.

Most of the points raised were sound and reasonable. But they were also blatantly self-evident and unchallenging, especially for viewers with even a passing interest in or knowledge of television history. Which is most of us, right?

I’m a television critic – you may have noticed – so this is my field of so-called expertise, but I doubt that anyone over the age of 35 learned anything new. So who was the programme aimed at? Young media students? If that’s the case, then a superficial overview involving dry discussions between Melvyn Bragg and the author of Foyle’s War probably wasn’t the ideal approach.

I’m not suggesting that it should’ve been replaced by a dumbed-down clip show hosted by Nick Grimshaw and a wacky talking iPad, but the comfortably old-guard, Radio 4-ish tone of the programme was at odds with the theoretically wide-ranging, pan-generational, democratic spirit of the medium it sought to examine.  

It reminded me of seminal news spoof The Day Today’s classic ‘Attitudes Night’ sketch, which so perfectly skewered the well-meaning pomposity of these sociological TV essays over 20 years ago. I dare say Bragg has never seen it.  

Still, I can’t thank him enough for giving us another chance to enjoy that rarely-seen footage of Del Boy falling through the bar. 

The secret to exploring well-worn avenues of popular culture is to approach them from a niche perspective. ROCK ‘N’ ROLL GUNS FOR HIRE: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE SIDEMEN did just that.

This enjoyable documentary featured revealing contributions from a handful of notable payroll musicians – those unsung heroes whose job it is to support the vision of spotlight-hogging artists – such as Wendy and Lisa (Prince), Bernard Fowler (The Rolling Stones) and our endearingly rock ‘n’ roll cliché of a host, Earl Slick (David Bowie).

The pathos and insecurity of a life spent sublimating your ego to the whims of musical icons was sympathetically captured in this warm odyssey into the shadows of stardom. 

TV Review: KEITH RICHARDS: THE ORIGINS OF THE SPECIES + THE MARVELLOUS WORLD OF ROALD DAHL

This article was originally published in The Dundee Courier on 30th July 2016.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/category/lifestyle/entertainment/tv-film/

Keith Richards: The Origins of the Species: Saturday, BBC Two

The Marvellous World of Roald Dahl: Saturday, BBC Two

  

Keith Richards and Roald Dahl: together at last! They may not seem like natural bedfellows, but during last Saturday’s generous documentary double-bill, it struck me that both were natural-born storytellers and nonconformists who have enriched our lives immeasurably.

If you had to define the essence of Keith – eau de Keef - then look no further than the moment in Keith Richards: The Origins of the Species when he recounted a charming childhood memory of his visits to Dartford marshes.

“I saw my first dead man there,” he noted. That faux-casual use of “first”, as if it was merely a throwaway detail, spoke volumes about a man who understands his own myth.

This entertaining hour in the company of one of rock’s great raconteurs was a Rolling Stones documentary with a difference: it ended at the point where the band were about to form.

It focused instead on The Human Riff’s formative years in monochrome, bombsite Dartford, told in his own colourful words. It also functioned as an iconoclastic piece of post-war social history. A keen history buff with a distinctive eye for detail, Keith should have his own BBC Four series by now. If they don’t hurry up, Channel 4 will poach him as the new host of Time Team.

Despite his legendary intake of Bad Things, his memory is remarkably lucid. Reliably funny and engaging – your cup would runneth over with joie de vivre if you’d survived what he has – he told his story with a throaty mix of wry nostalgia and genuine warmth, especially when discussing his family.  

Julien Temple, a director famed for such classic documentaries as The Filth and The Fury, bolstered Keith’s anecdotes in typically inventive style with an eclectic collage of archive footage scored to Stones music and period pop hits. His camera revelled in the lizard-like contours of rock’s craggiest visage. That nicotine cackle and woozy grin were in full, glorious effect.

When infant Keith’s England was being bombed during the war, Roald Dahl was protecting it as an RAF pilot. The Marvellous World of Roald Dahl began with him crashing his plane in Africa. He was lucky to survive. A life-changing incident, it inspired his first piece of published writing. He frequently returned to the magic and terror of flight.

As this fascinating and touching essay made clear, all of Dahl’s classic yarns contained elements of autobiography. Childhood encounters with vicious adults, the tragic loss of comrades during the war, even his own wife’s stroke – her mangled language inspired The BFG – all found their way into his work. Yet he incorporated these dark matters with such sensitivity, they never felt ghoulish.   

Told using extracts from his memoirs, as read by Robert Lindsay and illustrated by the great Quentin Blake, it confirmed my belief that the most beloved children’s author of all time – face facts, Walliams – was one of the greatest literary geniuses of the 20^th century.

He understood implicitly that children love reading about frightening things, just as long as the author lightens the darkness with humour.

He endured the horrors of war. His survivor’s guilt inspired him to write about children who’d lost their parents. One of his daughters died when she was only seven. When his young son had a severe brain injury, he co-invented a valve to alleviate his condition. Several thousand other children benefited from this invention, which was never sold for profit.

An extraordinary man. A kindly subversive. Keith and Roald both.

Book Review: MICK JAGGER by Philip Norman

This article was originally published in The Scotsman on 20th October 2012.

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/features/book-review-mick-jagger-by-philip-norman-1-2589474

MICK JAGGER

Philip Norman

HarperCollins, £20

Paul Whitelaw

When Michael Philip Jagger, corporate head of the Rolling Stones empire, was asked to deliver his autobiography in the early '80s, the ghost-written results were deemed so irredeemably dull that the publishers were forced to cancel the £1 million advance and scrap the entire project. His exasperated editor quipped that it should've been titled The Diary of a Nobody.

Contrast that with the colourful – if not always reliable – content of fellow Stone Keith Richards' best selling memoir, Life, from 2010, which, in between hair-raising anecdotes and scholarly ruminations on open-G tuning, functioned as a kind of frustrated public letter to his estranged old friend. The Stones are celebrating their 50^th anniversary this year, with another mega-tour rumoured to follow in 2013, but Richards claims he hasn't set foot in Jagger's dressing room in over 20 years.

So what happened? How is it possible that a legendary figure such as Jagger, who's lived a life liberally festooned with dramatic incident, could think of nothing interesting to say about himself? And how did it get to the stage where he barely communicates with the man with whom he wrote some of the world's greatest rock songs?

Philip Norman's hefty, even-handed biography seeks to dig behind the studied public façade and bore into the heavily guarded heart of this paradoxical icon. That he succeeds in presenting a rounded portrait of such a slippery character is doubly remarkable given Jagger's predictable refusal to have anything to do with the book.

And yet, despite this glaring Jagger-shaped hole, Norman may well have written the only biography of a living entertainer to actually benefit from the absence of its subject. After all, the author argues, when have you ever read a remotely revealing interview with Mick Jagger? From the moment he strutted onto the world's stage in the mid-'60s, his public pronouncements have always been couched in feigned indifference and, in later years, a maddening insistence that he's forgotten the finer details of his past.

A highly intelligent, shrewd professional, this is clearly a convenient avoidance technique honed over the years to reveal as little of himself as possible. Famously, Jagger is a song-writer who, despite penning countless lyrics, has provided barely a hint of autobiography in his work.

This diplomatic narcissist obviously cares deeply about how he's perceived, but his unwavering commitment – to borrow ex-paramour Marianne Faithfull's choice phrase – to The Tyranny of Cool prohibits him from ever suggesting otherwise in public.

Norman repeatedly returns to the Tyranny of Cool motif throughout the story, as a persuasive way of deciphering Jagger's often self-defeating and callous behaviour. Despite pushing 70, this still limber force of nature is arguably the most vainglorious exponent of the perpetual adolescence enjoyed by pampered rock stars.

Although Norman rightly celebrates Jagger's immense talent and historical impact, a portrait emerges of a selfish, charming, controlling man who's had his every whim, whether fiscal or carnal, indulged almost without question throughout his long career. And yet despite his keen sense of self-awareness, Jagger doesn't seem to realise that his endless series of affairs with women less than half his age has transformed a one-time cultural powerhouse into an increasingly pathetic parody of himself. That, I suppose, is what happens when the word you've heard least in your life is “no”.

Norman has assembled an addictive narrative mired in sex and, to a lesser extent, drugs (Jagger was always too sensible to overindulge), but thankfully he isn't interested in salacious gossip.

An esteemed biographer of, among others, The Beatles, John Lennon, and the Stones themselves (an updated edition of his exhaustive 1984 biography is published this month), his reputation for thorough research is compounded on virtually every page. Norman is the sort of detail-hungry biographer who'll delightedly note that an Abbott and Costello comedy prophetically titled Money For Jam was playing at the local cinema in Dartford when the notoriously stingy Jagger was born.

Having gone back over interviews conducted for his previous Stones tome, he's also gathered fresh, record-straightening yet dignified contributions from the likes of Jagger's former lovers Chrissie Shrimpton and Marsha Hunt (who gave birth to his first child, which he briefly tried to disown), and Maggie Abbot, his one-time film agent, who grants fascinating insight into the numerous film offers that came his way during his thwarted bid for Hollywood stardom. It's tantalising to imagine what directors such as Hal Ashby, Steven Spielberg, John Boorman and Franco Zeffirelli could've done with Jagger's unique charisma.

Despite his penchant for detail, Norman could never be accused of being a dry, academic biographer. Adopting a wry tone befitting his habitually self-mocking subject, he rarely passes up an opportunity for an ironic aside. Indeed, at times he'd be best advised to avoid a tempting pun or gag, as they often irritate rather than amuse. Perverting the title of the Stones' first US album to Europe's Newest Shitmakers? Describing ageing groupies as “gurgling matrons”? Really, Philip? And he does tend to repeat himself as the book goes on. Oh for the hand of a stricter editor.

Nevertheless, having breathed new life into familiar material, he's written what must surely be regarded as the definitive account of Jagger's remarkable life. Its very existence will, of course, vex and embarrass Sir Mick himself, who would clearly prefer it if people only wrote about him in the manner of a glowing press release. But you can be sure that, whenever the subject inevitably arises during future interviews, he'll casually dismiss it as an irrelevance. The Tyranny of Cool will never be vanquished.

Mick Jagger by Philip Norman is published 4^th October (HarperCollins, £20)