Pulled an all nighter to read this book. I tried to resist it until my son went to Antwerp to see Madonna but I failed. I hid it under a blanket and finished it after son was in bed, Having to hid this book is quite ridiculous, but those of us with “trans” identified kids go to extraordinary lengths to keep the peace. It will now go into my secret stash of “gender critical” books.
The first part covers Graham’s early writing career including a stint in the music press which I did not know about. Other half is an avid consumer of the music press so he was able to tell me that hot press was known for the quality of the writing. Another revelation was his many credits on other programmes and experience as a director. I found this illuminating and it was told at a brisk pace with a good balance of writing tips and humour. I won’t spoil it for you but the story of Graham’s mum, a cat and piano left me needing an emergency deployment of kegals, whilst describing it to my other half. It’s been a long time since I finished a book in one sitting. Highly recommend it!
After I finished it I was reminded of all my encounters with priests. It can’t be a shock that I, one of eight children, grew up in a Catholic household with an Uncle who was a Servite brother for many years and later an ordained priest. My Uncle spent nearly 20 years as a missionary in “Zululand” and I owe to him the book, byE.A Ritter, on Shaka Zulu. The great warrior was bullied as a small boy and the book contained a Zulu phrase which translated as “look at his penis, it’s just like a little earth worm”. For the longest time it was my party piece to attempt to render this phrase, in Zulu, but, regrettably, I never encountered a native speaker and a suitable occasion to deploy my mastery of this phrase. For the curious this is the phrase.
Awubheke umthondo wakhe ngathi umswenya
When Uncle Dennis came home it was an exciting event. I never got used to hearing his fellow priests call him Stephen; which was his priest name. He was a very handsome man, who looked like Christopher Plummer, and as a little girl, I assumed I would marry him when I grew up. This turned out to be quite a controversial aspiration!
One of his visits home was to help my father build his house. Dad had zero building experience and, if truth be told, little aptitude. By contrast Uncle Dennis had built churches and schools over in Africa, which is why a house in West Yorkshire was modelled on church buildings in South Africa complete with a felt roof.
One of the last times I saw him I inadvertently became a priests housekeeper for a week. I had not anticipated this but he saw it as a good opportunity to give his Mrs Doyle the week off. In his defence he had not actually experienced my cooking.
He passed away in his nineties and his funeral was organised by his order so we had little control. I was pleasantly surprised that the other priests were proud of his work with the first AIDs victims, in London, all young gay men, and it was a central part of his eulogy.
My other memories triggered by Graham’s memoir was the “fastest mass”. Father Roche, my parish priest, was famed for his quick masses which correlated with a rise in church attendance. He was famed for his friendship with Bing Crosby and with the astronauts who landed on the moon. When he was moved on the new priest was the antithesis and the speed of his masses was torturous. Not only were they slow but he repeated every line..Take This…Take This… It was his services that induced me to pass the time by reading the missalettes (order of service) backwards and amusing myself with the fact that God is Dog spelt backwards.
Buy the book!
Is there a distributor in North America? I haven't found anything so far, and it's pretty pricey to order from the UK.
Great review , Tish which I also enjoyed since I was brought up a Catholic - I think my Mum (RIP) went to more masses than the Pope!
I am reading the book and greatly enjoying it.
My first cousin was editor of a music magazine so I enjoyed that bit a lot!
Dusty