My Old Man

Tales of Our Fathers

Ted Kessler

• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781782114000
• eBook ISBN:
  9781782113997
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

If you were asked to write about your father, what would you say?

Florence Welch, Paul Weller, Nina Stibbe and the sons and daughters of Ian Dury, Johnny Ball, Roy Castle, Leonard Cohen and many others relate the quirks, flaws and quiet heroisms of their dads. By turns funny, tender and heartbreaking, My Old Man offers a unique opportunity to reflect on our own relationships with our dads - who they really are, and how we come to understand ourselves through them.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Can Birthdays Still be Happy After an Eightieth? Felix Kessler by Ted Kessler
• ‘Stare at them, Nick. They don’t like it!’ Johnny Ball by Nick Ball
• He’s the First of My Mother’s Lovers Not to Have a Serious Flaw Mr Holt by Nina Stibbe
• My Dad Has Been Famous Longer Than I’ve Been Alive Tim Healy by Matthew Healy
• But I Was Surprised That We Grieve Alone Too Mike Raphael by Amy Raphael
• Your Eldest Child Greets You And Sends You Love John Niven by John Niven
• ‘Oi, Jemima, Do You Want to Go to a Party?’ Ian Dury by Jemima Dury
• I Punched Him Down the Stairs John Hamper by Billy Childish
• I Needed to Know How to Act Like a Daughter Dave by Terri White
• His True Calling Was to be a Ringmaster in the Circus Anthony John Martin by Chris Martin
• As Near to Resembling a Sexy Communist Saint as Surely Ever Walked this Earth Bill Burchill by Julie Burchill
• Dave Was More Popular Than I Was Dave Lynskey by Dorian Lynskey
• There Was Nothing I Could Do That Would Shock Him John Weller by Paul Weller
• A Dead Magpie Peeked Around the Bedroom Door and said ‘Hello’ Memories of Dad and animals by Rose Bretécher
• He Paid for Everything With a Credit Card, Always Embossed With a Different Name Mohammed El Tahtawy by Yasmin Lajoie
• ‘Roy, This is Fiona and she is in Love With You’ Roy Castle by Ben Castle
• Here I was, The Apprentice to the Master Wally Downes by Wally Downes Jr
• He Would Be Quietly in the Background the only wog in the world by Tjinder Singh
• His Imminent Demise was Prophesied When He Was Only 35 David Michael Griffiths by Joanna Kavenna
• Football Has Caused More Arguments in the Stewart Household Than Hitler Ever Could Rob Stewart by Rod Stewart
• I Caught a Glimpse Of Dad, Grey-Faced, Teeth Gritted Tam Doyle by Tom Doyle
• He Blackens Pages Every Single Day of his Life Leonard Cohen by Adam Cohen
• I Discovered Dad’s ‘Secret’ Had Shaped His Character Charlie Catchpole by Charlie Catchpole
• It is Good to DANCE, in Very Short Shorts, In the summertime Barry Wood by Anna Wood
• He Deals Exclusively in Percentages John Deevoy by Adrian Deevoy
• ‘Why Are You Listening to Green Day? You Wanna Be Listening To The Ramones’ Nick Welch by Florence Welch
• Half-Truths, Rumours and Second-Hand Memories Harry Doherty by Niall Doherty
• I Could See My Own Face in the Glass’s Reflection Howard Ross by Adam Ross
• He Bust My Nose on Stage at Wembley Derek Ryder by Shaun Ryder
• His Life Was Built Around People Not Coming Back Alfred Downs by Jacqueline Downs
• I Said to My Mum, ‘Who’S Dad?’ Anthony Monaghan & Roger McGough by Nathan McGough
• As Of this Afternoon, He Was at Home in the Garden Allan Edward Burgess by Tim Burgess
• Years From Now, A Chain of Irresistible Genetic Code Will Spark Up Michael Segal by Victoria Segal
• The Things We Do And Say as Parents Have Consequences My father by Shami Chakrabarti
• We Were Like Brothers Dave Hawley by Richard Hawley
• I Do Not Know This Old Man Goodbye by Lubi Barre
• He Was the Sort of Man Who Wore a Tie To Mow The Lawn Derek Mulvey by John Mulvey
• I Follow My Father My Old Man by Tilda Swinton
• He was Passive with a Small ‘P’ Sid Difford by Chris Difford
• Ten Years Passed and We Barely Talked Jack Palmer by Amanda Palmer
• A Little Kid Doesn’t Forget That Joseph Kessler by Felix Kessler
• Acknowledgements
• List of Pictures