My interview today is with John Parry the author of a humourous but poignant book called “Not for Wimps”about men and the aging process published by the Book Guild UK.
John Parry was the BBC's first arts correspondent and left the corporation in the mid-90s after 12 years, he wrote a regular arts column for the Spectator before creating and editing Sculptors, the magazine of the Royal Society of British sculptors. He also wrote book reviews for the Mail on Sunday. He lives in Brighton with his wife, the actress and author, Judy Cornwell.
In this interview I talk to John about his prodigious career in the world of the Media and he reads a selection of extracts from his book and talks about what made him write this book?
An extracts from his book.
'The other evening, I walked into the theatre. With a dressy celebration party afterwards, I was wearing black tie, feeling sprightly and youthful. The occasion had all the promise of being great fun. At least it did until the moment I approached a small group of quite jolly young people gathered on the pavement -- and no mercifully, I was not about to be mugged. One of the girls simply shouted out, 'Oi, you looked like Winston Churchill.' Her friends yelled with laughter.
I was devastated. Not for a second was I deluded enough to think that she was saying I looked like a war hero, an inspiring orator, a Prime Minister who led the nations to victory. What she was saying, of course was I looked rather elderly and rotund with a pink and shiny face from the exertion of my brisk walk. It was crushing. I arrived at the theatre feeling rather less than sprightly and useful. Infuriatingly, my own friends thought it was a stoically funny when I told them the story and laughed as much as the crowd of young people had done.'
To Buy John Parry book “Not for Wimps” click here
Music: Chansons sans paroles (1989) op. 2 Valse-Scherzo
Album: Dry Fig Trees
Artist: Gerard Satamian :To buy this music click here
