There's a collection of Peter Cook's writings out this week. Worth getting for the cover alone:
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Alan Bennett wrote the following words about Mr Cook, words of hope from which I take great comfort myself.
<i>"One thinks of one of the stock characters in an old-fashioned Western: the doctor who's always to be found in the saloon and whose allegiance is never quite plain. Seldom sober, he is cleverer than most of the people he associates with, spending his time playing cards with the baddies but taking no sides. Still, when the chips are down, and slightly to his own surprise, he does the right thing.
"But there is never any suggestion that, having risen to the occasion, he is going to mend his ways in any permanent fashion. He goes on much as ever down the path to self-destruction, knowing that redemption is not for him – and it is this that redeems him.
"The message of a character like his being that a life of complete self-indulgence, if led with the whole heart, may also bring wisdom."</i>
You'll forgive this entry for being like one of those cover versions that say more about the singer than their own songs.
