Tony Wilson Biography - Launch 30th July

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TONY WILSON BIOGRAPHY BOOK LAUNCH: When? Thursday 30th July 2009, at 7pm Where? Marple Library, Memorial Park, Marple, Stockport, SK6 6BA The evening is FREE ... But you will need to book your free ticket to get a place. Please contact our Reader Development Team on 0161 474 5751 or email readers@stockport.gov.uk

Proud honorary Viking David Nolan wrote the Barney Sumner book Confusion.

Tony Wilson wrote: "This [Sutent] is my only real option. It is not a cure but can hold the cancer back, so I will probably be on it until I die ... When they said I would have to pay £3,500 for the drugs each month, I thought where am I going to find the money? I'm the one person in this industry who famously has never made any money ... I used to say some people make money and some make history, which is very funny until you find you can't afford to keep yourself alive ... I've never paid for private healthcare because I'm a socialist. Now I find you can get tummy tucks and cosmetic surgery on the NHS but not the drugs I need to stay alive. It is a scandal."

Want me to pick you up a signed one?

Col,I'm gonna try and get tickets sorted tomorrow.I'll text the others and see if they want a lift.

Canadia and I are coming straight from work, so don't need a lift.

Ta

Mr ATR's coming!!

MONTY wrote: Mr ATR's coming!!

You're giving him a lift

Just got this email

Hello

I’m just emailing with a quick update about the David Nolan book launch event at Marple Library tomorrow evening – Unfortunately we have just been told that the library car park will not be available tomorrow due to road works. There are plenty of other areas to park however, so if you are arriving by car the alternatives are as follows:

The large Co-Operative Supermarket car park next to the library, which is accessible off Hollins Lane and is free after 6pm

Parking in front of the cinema and also a smaller car park across the road from the cinema, at Townley Terrace, which is also free after 6pm

A small car park near the fire station, off Hollins Lane

There are also plenty of parking spaces along the main Marple Road.

Many thanks for your time, and we are looking forward to seeing you at the event tomorrow evening

Jenny

Jenny Barber

Reader Development Librarian

Stockport Library Service

(0161)474 5751

jenny.barber@stockport.gov.uk

For all Reading Group enquiries please email: readers@stockport.gov.uk

I'm currently reading 'Midnight Over Sanctaphrax' by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. What are you reading?

I hope Shug sees this and feels really bad about saying that I'm a rubbish poster. This post is a CLASSIC.

Diamond 383 wrote:

I hope Shug sees this and feels really bad about saying that I'm a rubbish poster. This post is a CLASSIC.

Are you in an attic?

ShugZV wrote:

[black]On a serious note, hope the night goes well :D[/black]

Ha ha you TART

Yeah it was a good night.Erm...never been to a "book-reading" before,but couldn't have been with a better host.David's a really nice bloke.Read passages from his book,followed by a short Q&A. "YOU'RE ENTITLED TO AN OPINION" the title of the book,refers to a press conference he stepped into for the launch of 24HPP-the Film.He was winding a few people up,one-with his mobile constantly going off,Two-answering questions which may have been aimed at Steve Coogan.Journalists had a habit throughout the years of taking the piss,or trying getting a rise out of him.One of them pulled apart his theory that Music renews itself every 13 years...Teddy Boys,Beatle-mania,Punk,Acid House... "Quite honestly,I think that's rubbish"

To which AHW replied "You're entitled to your opinion.......but you're opinion is SHIT"

Big hello to Colin,who had to stay behind while everyone got their book,so that David could sign Col's job lot of books (15!!); Jemmie,Sandra,good meeting Geno (alright mate!),and finally Alex,who persuaded me to come and see some bands at TIGER LOUNGE.Top toons!

David Nolan quite surprisingly said at the end (top marks for honesty because there were a few of AHW's relatives there) that from when he first met him at Granada TV,he didn't really like him.Two reasons,he considered Tony as "old guard" and Tony seemed more of an obstacle because of his influence....and secondly David thought that Tony didn't like him. As years progressed,and mostly from doing interviews about him for the book,he realised that he didn't really know him at all. The book nearly didn't get published,publishers were getting cold feet about it,which I said was surprising,considering Tony had become a bit of hot property overnight with the 24HRPP film,he'd gone off the radar for a while,all of a sudden,he was back on GRANADA TONIGHT,which introduced him to viewers all those years back,and launched Richard & Judy's career,and Lucy Meacock to occasional ITN Anchorwoman. Nolan learned a lot of stuff about him,a few revelations,which he felt he had to go back to Yvette Lindsay (Tony's partner of 17 years) and say "Did you know about that?" This is the FIRST book on Tony Wilson. Yeah he's got a mention in a few books,but none centred on himself. He finished up by saying it was a funny day when he completed the book,because he suddenly had a stroke! Couldn't believe it because he looks a picture of fitness and health.

Twas quite entertaining. The queue for the book signing was very long though, I'm only glad Col was stood behind me or I'd still be there now.

David Nolans cufflinks were ACE! Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious. Kwality!

Good to see everyone, as ever.

I've only leafed through the book (and looked at the pictures) and read the first few pages. There's already been one jaw-on-the-floor revaluation and a massive amount of background to Tony's life. The book seems really well researched and clearly written, as we'd expect from David Nolan. The acknowledgement list reads like a who's who of Manchester music, as it should. There seems to be a lot more depth than David's previous book. Inevitable as there is a lot of depth to the subject this time.

David's risen to a formidable challenge, which must of become insanely complex and harrowing as Wilson was diagnosed, fell ill and died during the research and writing process. The book David set out to write must have been completely different to the one we bought last night.

I'm sure David is typical of most people when he says that he came to like Tony during this period, although of course he was closer and more involved than most people. Everyone with an interest realised that their favourite figure of fun and ridicule was a cherished and important public figure during this time.

David mentioned that he had not put everything that he knew into the book, only that which was fair and right to publish. I can understand that. Again, it's a different book to the one we would have got if Tony was still alive and well and getting up everyone's noses. Tony would have made a fine job of annotating the text as Barney did for Confusion. If these could have been edited to fit in the book they would have been hilarious.

A donation from every book sold goes to The Christie Hospital, who looked after Wilson towards the end of his life. There was a donation tin (with a very attractive holder) at the event last night, as there will be at all the launch events.

Nice one, David

The Christie

My Wilson blog post

Missy Jem wrote:

David Nolans cufflinks were ACE! Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious. Kwality!

i spent ages in that bloody que only it turned out the be the one for the jaffa cakes and bloody wine, and those cufflinks were ace, i want them very lots, hopefully they do stephen and gillian ones

very nice finally meeting some people from here, cheers,

and finally found £30 quid on the way home:D

MONTY wrote: good meeting Geno (alright mate

Hiya!

ShugZV wrote:

Will read this at work next week

And they say us Council Workers skive

i had one in the post but it was addressed to somebody else on the envelope, so that was lucky.

cheers col

ShugZV wrote: BIG revelation in the first couple of chapters!!! Funnily enough, if you think about it it should come as no surprise really

Gotta say I'm really enjoying the book and I'm only 4 chapters or so in, definitely a must read for any fans of Factory bands

Is the 'big revelation' that Tony was in fact the basis for "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" during his time at Granada in the 70s??

I also notice that 'The Vikings' come in the straight list of FACCERS, and not in the "obscure" (read: homosexual) listing.

Some mistake, surely?

RUSSELL HARTY to a fur-coated Tony Wilson...

"You look like a cunt in a bucket"

There'll be a signing in that London soon.

It's a good read. Thanks Colin (eventually, cunt). The 'big revelation' that I assume most people are alluding to is rather dull and I'm sure wasn't that rare back in those days. More amused by the claims that he never actually attended that first ever Sex Pistols gig in the Lesser Free Trade Hall (and neither did Barney or Hooky). Mind you I'm sure Wilson was a subscriber to the 'don't let the facts get in the way of a great story' philosophy was he not?

ShugZV wrote:

Top man Col, book arrived this morning and personally signed. Superb stuff and good ole David has added The Vikings as Fac 383 in the Fac Numbers at the back of the book :)

Will read this at work next week. Thanks again matey!

Get some work done !

GlasVegas wrote: It's a good read. Thanks Colin (eventually, cunt). The 'big revelation' that I assume most people are alluding to is rather dull and I'm sure wasn't that rare back in those days. More amused by the claims that he never actually attended that first ever Sex Pistols gig in the Lesser Free Trade Hall (and neither did Barney or Hooky). Mind you I'm sure Wilson was a subscriber to the 'don't let the facts get in the way of a great story' philosophy was he not?

I thought that WAS the big revelation

Missy Jem wrote:

GlasVegas wrote: It's a good read. Thanks Colin (eventually, cunt). The 'big revelation' that I assume most people are alluding to is rather dull and I'm sure wasn't that rare back in those days. More amused by the claims that he never actually attended that first ever Sex Pistols gig in the Lesser Free Trade Hall (and neither did Barney or Hooky). Mind you I'm sure Wilson was a subscriber to the 'don't let the facts get in the way of a great story' philosophy was he not?

I thought that WAS the big revelation

I thought it was that his old feller was gay? Did someone not say the 'big revelation' was in the first chapter?

GlasVegas wrote:

I thought it was that his old feller was gay? Did someone not say the 'big revelation' was in the first chapter?

Well, I wasn't particularly surprised by that for some reason. Maybe I always thought that AHW was a little, shall we say, flamboyant?

To me it was a bigger revelation that he wasn't at THE gig.

Missy Jem wrote:

GlasVegas wrote:

I thought it was that his old feller was gay? Did someone not say the 'big revelation' was in the first chapter?

Well, I wasn't particularly surprised by that for some reason. Maybe I always thought that AHW was a little, shall we say, flamboyant?

To me it was a bigger revelation that he wasn't at THE gig.

I agree. And pretty sure in Middles Torn Apart, they mentioned AHW's dad was gay. whatever. 5% of the population is gay. who cares.

Not being at the first Sex Pistols reveals them all to be a pack of liars, which is far more interesting.

Has anyone read David's other book "I Swear I Was There"?

Diamond 383 wrote: Has anyone read David's other book "I Swear I Was There"?

I wanted to buy that on the night but didn't have enough pennies. I think I'll order it from Amazon when I've finished this one.

El Jarvo wrote:

Diamond 383 wrote: Has anyone read David's other book "I Swear I Was There"?

I've got a copy.

In fact, I think I bought it at that Nolan / Transmish thing for Barney in Stockport two years back!

I've not read it yet though. I've got a mahusive pile of unread books next to me bed.

Well, there you go. A mahusive backlog of bedtime stories for the nipper when he gets a bit older. Like, y'know, six months older.

Start 'em early I reckon.