Alexander Chancellor pointed out that the sad death of George Melly coincided with the ban on smoking in public places. Though he had cancer in both lungs and emphysema, Melly continued smoking to the end. Chancellor comments that Melly ‘was a member of that diminishing band of admirable people who do not think that good health and longevity are the only purposes of existence’.
Simon Jenkins too had a pop at the new law this week in a silly article, playing the trick of extension and false analogy (no-one is intending to ban domestic pets and it isn't the same). Though I am far from an authoritarian on smoking, I do wonder at the definition of the need to feed of an addiction that may kill you as freedom.
Now I am off to a smoke-free pub to drink loads of health giving beer.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Goodtime George
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4 comments:
Good eulogy here Gadgie
http://shirazsocialist.wordpress.com/2007/07/05/ending-up-goodtime-george-checks-out/
A canny lad is Jim.
The link is
Goodtime George checks out
and it is good, thanks Will.
Peter. Good to see you the other day and catch up on your climatic disasters. By my reckoning you are due some snow. Nice to see you remembering George Melly. I saw him live in 1978. At the Lancastrian Halls, 500 yards or so from Station Road (RIP). He insisted he was laying in "Swine Town". I wondered why they had put a cards table and chair out on stage for him. He sat during the instrumentals, and the audience bought him double vodkas which were lined up on the table and drunk with gusto. He signed Rum, Bum and Concertina for my father during the interval, which given the amount of vodka he'd put away now seems in retrospect to have been a fairly major feat. Anyone who missed Melly singing "Nuts" is as culturally deprived as those unfortunates who missed Danny Wilson playing stand off for Swinton in his glory days. Good win on sunday, wasn't it.
Melly was, as far as I am aware PLAYING in Swinton that night. I guess he could have been laying, but that is information I am not privy to.
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