Introducing A New Persona

You will know me as the Overgraduate (OG) or possibly as Big Fat Pig (BFP) but today I want to introduce you to another of my split personalities. Chortley Chuckles has emerged from my subconscious and will now take his place in these ramblings. He was beckoned to the front of my mind when the Groupie amiably commented that she liked the way I laugh at my own jokes - a sort of chortle cum chuckle. Thus was Chortley Chuckles brought to life. He is a down-at-heel entertainer. He entertains all ages but his act for children also comprises his unseen but faithful dog Knuckles. Thus he has a theme song, its precise tune known only to OG, BFP, and to Chortley himself - the refrain runs 'Chortley Chuckles with his prize dog Knuckles'. This line is by way of an oblique tribute to the briliance of Clive James' haunting chorus, 'I have the only cure for life, and the cure for life is joy, I'm the crying man that everyone calls laughing boy'. 

Chortley Chuckles and his prize dog Knuckles

If you encounter Chortley Chuckles (CC) please be gentle with him - as with many clowns there is a serious man hidden beneath.

I've Got The Only Cure For Life, And The Cure For Life Is Joy

Not the first time I've purloined a masterful Clive James lyric (written for the music of Pete Atkin) and it won't be the last. Anyway, it came to mind as I mused my way out of the downer threatened by yesterday's speculations on asymmetric war. The cure for life is joy.

I have just watched (it's on iPlayer - seek it out) Listening Through the Lens : the Films of Christopher Nupen. It is no false modesty to say that I have a tin ear and zero musical talent but, rather as with wine, I have come to know what I like. The documentary about Nupen, himself a documentarist, reminded me that music is quite possibly the highest marker of human spirituality. As long as mankind is possessed of musicality there can be some hope.

Also there is running. My new shoes are working well and this morning I ran up the hill and back down into Benllech with the view out to Red Wharf Bay opening up before me. The cure for life is joy.  

A King At Nightfall - Farewell To The Hypertension Kid

After a long illness Clive James succumbed to Leukaemia last weekend. A true great has died, on balance the greatest critic and cultural influencer of the last fifty years.

I've encourged you to do this before but if you have not yet done so please take on board the songs that James wrote with Pete Atkin. They display a gargantuan wit with elegance and affection - pete atkin/clive james

A sample:

Last night I met the Hypertension Kid/ Grimly chasing shorts with halves of bitter/ In a Mayfair cub they call the Early Quitter/ He met my eyes and hit me for a quid

Beautiful and so very clever. As they say in Wayne's World, we are not worthy.

You Have To Listen To This

In their pomp and looking pretty fly

Listen while it is available - Pete and Clive - this is a little tribute to the matchless collaboration of Pete Atkin and Clive James. After listening, search out the 1970's Pete Atkin albums - this can involve a little looking under internet rocks but it can be done. Bloody brilliant. The most recent stuff is available on Spotify for free, but the true glory (at least to my tin ear) is in the early output. National treasures both.