(no subject)
On Thursday the name Arthur Negus suddenly came to me. It has been much
on my mind for the past few days. I tried to flesh out his character
without thinking too hard about where the name might have come from,
since it kept me amused for ages and if I figured out where I had
picked it up it would spoil the comic value of it. Trying to give him a
context, I pictured him in his early forties. He was in the late 1960's
or early 1970's. As for his appearance, it has just dawned on my that
my present raiment is an unconscious homage to how I pictured
him. I am sporting grey Farah trousers, a busily patterned shirt in
shades of grey and orange, fawn coloured tie and a darker brown jumper.
This I imagine to be his get up for a day off. He would probably not
wear a tie to work, which would be some kind of semi-skilled, light
manual labour, crucially in a factory where he would clock in using one
of those ticket punching machines. My wife appears to have joined in
the homage, although her choice of clothing is, I think, a little too
bohemian to be a really credible Mrs Negus. Negus does not occupy a
place in the pop culture iconography of his time, he is but a fellow
traveller sharing the same temporal zone as all that stuff. By the way
I really had to repress the urge to introduce Mel as Mrs Arthur Negus
when we were out at Rockworld on Thursday night. She would have given
me a thick ear, I think. He could have worked in one of the numerous
local factories in Rusholme visible in the local history archive in the
central library. These have now been demolished, except for one
just off Wilmslow Road on Moss Lane East which produces textiles or
finished clothing, I think.
Negus gradually revealed himself to be mentioned in the Monty Python election sketch "Arthur Negus has held Bristols; sorry, that's a rumour not an election result". Then the archeology throws up a mention by Eddie Izzard in I forget what context. Which is curious seeing as he is an enormous Python fan. Anyway the truth is that he looks like this:
(not Scully in the background, the one with the lopsided grin)
and is as you might guess from the photo, a former presenter of Antiques Roadshow.
Negus Negus Negus
My other source of alter ego material at the present time is the charismatic TV detective Eddie Shoestring, of the 1979 prime-time show entitled Shoestring. He's an affable, engaging fellow, as I think you can see from his photo which I am currently sporting an a user icon.
Unfortunately my entry now must take a more grave tone as I tell you the story of how Shoestring was ousted from daytime TV a few years ago by some horrible US import, I think Diagnosis Murder. I was crestfallen for weeks, so much did I enjoy Eddie's understated charm and the subfusc look of the programme. I don't think the BBC even finished repeating the whole series. Anyway on a brighter note, Shoestring does live on at www.eddieshoestring.com, so I now find out. Besides, he has given me ample material for Trevor, who is an unemployed painter and decorator only culturally viable between the years 1977 and 1982, of whom more at some later date.
Negus gradually revealed himself to be mentioned in the Monty Python election sketch "Arthur Negus has held Bristols; sorry, that's a rumour not an election result". Then the archeology throws up a mention by Eddie Izzard in I forget what context. Which is curious seeing as he is an enormous Python fan. Anyway the truth is that he looks like this:
(not Scully in the background, the one with the lopsided grin)
and is as you might guess from the photo, a former presenter of Antiques Roadshow.
Negus Negus Negus
My other source of alter ego material at the present time is the charismatic TV detective Eddie Shoestring, of the 1979 prime-time show entitled Shoestring. He's an affable, engaging fellow, as I think you can see from his photo which I am currently sporting an a user icon.
Unfortunately my entry now must take a more grave tone as I tell you the story of how Shoestring was ousted from daytime TV a few years ago by some horrible US import, I think Diagnosis Murder. I was crestfallen for weeks, so much did I enjoy Eddie's understated charm and the subfusc look of the programme. I don't think the BBC even finished repeating the whole series. Anyway on a brighter note, Shoestring does live on at www.eddieshoestring.com, so I now find out. Besides, he has given me ample material for Trevor, who is an unemployed painter and decorator only culturally viable between the years 1977 and 1982, of whom more at some later date.