Hey Now! Tonight the great BBC 2 screened a very candid and emotional programme on the life and times of one Uncle Ian Dury. �On my Life� was a warts and all expose on Ian�s beginnings to his upbringing and onto his success with art and music up to his greatest challenge yet, his ongoing brave battle with cancer. It began with his return to his roots in Donegal, in the north of Ireland where he spent time as a child. There he revisited the house of his old aunt and spoke about the happy times he spent there as a child. His mother was middle class, well educated and was the daughter of a doctor. His father came from more humble backgrounds, the son of a bus-driver. Then we return to London, to Upminster where he grew up as a young boy. Ian made the � hour trip to Southend regularly to the seaside. It is here where he believes he contacted polio, the disease that crippled him for the rest of his life. He is quite upbeat about this and claimed his fortune that it did not kill him, in that he �rallied round� to live on. His next trip down memory lane took us to the early 1950s where he went to a school catering for disabled children. He was sent here on the advice of his aunt who knew all the best places for him to attend. Again he has nothing but praise for this time and it made him fend for himself. Not a happy memory is his time spent at Secondary school, where he simply did not fit it with the mix of conformists and would-be barristers and accountants. They were he feels the most upsetting 5 years of his life. Ian during the documentary is driven around to his old houses where he used to life. What strikes me about his former places of home, was the nice �middle-class� surroundings he grew up in. He is appreciative that his mother (then divorced from his father) and the 2 sisters that lived with her, were well educated and quite feminist which he says rubbed off on him, no matter how hard or rebel-like he may have been. They were open-minded and perhaps liberal. Next the focus turns to his time at Art School. What was very interesting to see was his meeting with former Art tutor and long-time friend Peter Blake. He was the man responsible for the now legendary artwork on The Beatles 1967 masterpiece �Sargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band� Cover (the most recognisable piece of 60s pop art perhaps) and 28 years later he did the artwork for Paul Weller�s 1995 composition �Stanley Road� . It was great to see two icons of this century converse and talk about old times in a way that didn�t sound corny or sentimentalist. Infact Dury�s journey down memory lane throughout always maintained the viewers interest in a way that was never mushy, something you would never expect from �Mr. Lovepants� himself anyway. We are given a rare insight into the fascinating artwork of Dury himself here. I never knew the depths of this mans� painting talents, really a treat to look at. The next port of call is to the �Tally Ho� pub in Kentish town. Here he meets up with the �Kilburn and the Highroads� crew to discuss the advent of his musical career. Some very rare footage is shown here of the band in all its glory showing Dury performing to a bar full of people looking at this completely odd looking band, that �did not look like a band�, yet entertaining throughout. He speaks of the earlydays and way they had to get ready for a gig. Then he mentions a tale of the young Lee Thompson and how he would get into the venue via the toilet window, only to be met by Dury and Co. getting ready for a gig with feet in sink and not properly dressed. He then is joined by the Blockheads as they too talk about days gone past. Chaz Jankel (musical director) jokes that the first thing Dury ever said to him was �fuck off!�, very entertaining and classic Dury. Footage is shown of them throughout and great live performances. The success of this though did cost him valuable time with his older children and him to become very self-concious of his �Crip-like� condition. His reaction to this he says was to pen the song �Spasticus Autisicus� in 1991. The story then progresses from his later work in acting to his UNICEF duties and onto the recording of 1998�s �Mr. Lovepants� The end of the programme is bittersweet in its views by Dury. He is very positive about his life so far. Content in the fact that he has never been mistreated by anyone in his entire life, lived a very full and enjoyable one at that and has no real regrets. With no longing to be remembered but to life the rest of his days, however long or short that may be. The final footage shows him at the beach once again in Co. Donegal with his family and the sight of his 2 very young children. Content in the fact that he has enough for them to live off. He does however get upset at the sight of them, knowing that he may never get too see them grow up. It�s a poignant moment and shows Dury at his best, honest, blunt and very sincere. The programme was simply a pleasure to watch his openness is to be commended. His memories are the one we all aspire to tell our grandchildren and his thoughts on himself now and his future provide the insight into a very brave, generous and courageous man. I sat down tonight to watch this programme for a myriad of reasons; Dury�s music, the madness connection of course and his stories of old. However his view on death and his view on life more importantly showed the insight into someone very special indeed. Although I never met the man, I can always hold the memories of 2 August evenings in 1992 and 1994 when I saw him play at Madstock! for the rest of my days. Maybe someday I will journey back to the places close to my heart and remember the time I saw this bulldog-faced Londoner sing about rhythm sticks and spastics but more importantly reasons to be cheerful. Mr. Dury you are an inspiration to us all. Respectus Maximus! All the Best Vince! ===== "If it ain't Vince, it ain't worth a F*CK!" ICQ 46099201 NEVER SAY NO TO A MAD IDEA! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? 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