Simon Packham's Blog - Posts Tagged "character-building"
DISTANT MEMORY
When you’re creating characters in fiction, it’s good to remember that people are seldom what they seem. Characters should surprise you sometimes.
Driving home yesterday I was listening to an acoustic album by Everything But The Girl. Tracey Thorn is one of my favourite singers and by happy chance she was singing probably my favourite song; ‘Alison’ by Elvis Costello.
It reminded me of a brief encounter some forty years ago in my hall of residence at Manchester University. I had stayed behind one holiday to rehearse a play. Most of the other students had gone home, but a boy in the year above me – let’s call him Tony (not his real name) – had stayed behind too.
Tony, a punky, thin tied northerner, was notorious in hall circles for his right wing views. Rumour had it that he was a fully paid up member of The National Front. I’m not sure if this was an act or a strongly felt conviction, but I was certainly a little frightened of him. So when he invited me back to his room to listen to records, I was more than a little conflicted.
Up to that point, my taste in popular music had been conservative to say the least. On returning to university after every vacation, the first song I played was always ‘My Love’ by Wings followed by Elton John’s Greatest Hits (Volumes 1 & 2). Although I sometimes attended the ubiquitous ‘New Wave’ Discos (my drink of choice a sickly Pernod and blackcurrant) I was much more at home with Billy Joel.
But in those days the fear of solitude far outweighed the fear of the new (in middle-age it’s the other way around) and I accepted Tony’s offer. I remember little of our meeting, which can’t have lasted more than an hour. He played me an album by The Jam I think and then moved on to ‘My Aim is True’ by Elvis Costello. It was his sensitive analysis and love for the song ‘Alison’, which has stayed with me ever since. Perhaps it was patronising of me to be surprised, but I couldn’t help being impressed by the way he’d thought so deeply about the lyrics and the story the song was telling. It was one of those damascene conversions (blue cheese being another) that have happened throughout my life. The next day I went out and bought the album, which I have loved ever since.
Tony seemed at the time an unlikely guru, but I’ll always be grateful to him for his master class on the art of the lyric. I like to think that someone with such a sensitive side has long since renounced his right wing views. But maybe that’s patronising of me too.
Driving home yesterday I was listening to an acoustic album by Everything But The Girl. Tracey Thorn is one of my favourite singers and by happy chance she was singing probably my favourite song; ‘Alison’ by Elvis Costello.
It reminded me of a brief encounter some forty years ago in my hall of residence at Manchester University. I had stayed behind one holiday to rehearse a play. Most of the other students had gone home, but a boy in the year above me – let’s call him Tony (not his real name) – had stayed behind too.
Tony, a punky, thin tied northerner, was notorious in hall circles for his right wing views. Rumour had it that he was a fully paid up member of The National Front. I’m not sure if this was an act or a strongly felt conviction, but I was certainly a little frightened of him. So when he invited me back to his room to listen to records, I was more than a little conflicted.
Up to that point, my taste in popular music had been conservative to say the least. On returning to university after every vacation, the first song I played was always ‘My Love’ by Wings followed by Elton John’s Greatest Hits (Volumes 1 & 2). Although I sometimes attended the ubiquitous ‘New Wave’ Discos (my drink of choice a sickly Pernod and blackcurrant) I was much more at home with Billy Joel.
But in those days the fear of solitude far outweighed the fear of the new (in middle-age it’s the other way around) and I accepted Tony’s offer. I remember little of our meeting, which can’t have lasted more than an hour. He played me an album by The Jam I think and then moved on to ‘My Aim is True’ by Elvis Costello. It was his sensitive analysis and love for the song ‘Alison’, which has stayed with me ever since. Perhaps it was patronising of me to be surprised, but I couldn’t help being impressed by the way he’d thought so deeply about the lyrics and the story the song was telling. It was one of those damascene conversions (blue cheese being another) that have happened throughout my life. The next day I went out and bought the album, which I have loved ever since.
Tony seemed at the time an unlikely guru, but I’ll always be grateful to him for his master class on the art of the lyric. I like to think that someone with such a sensitive side has long since renounced his right wing views. But maybe that’s patronising of me too.
