Authors: Mike Read
It’s healthy to have different ideas and opposition, but I can’t believe that we are really so diametrically opposed on so many aspects of life in the UK. And what makes the country work. Politics has become rather a dirty word, so as I say, I’m not a politician just a bloke with a view. I chatted with Tony Blair over dinner one evening at a friend’s birthday and found him quite delightful, extremely
charming and good company. I have never been a Labour voter but he was a statesman and a gentleman whatever you think of his politics. At one point he enquired about Robin Gibb’s state of heatlth, after which he and Cherie sent a long and heart-warming email to Robin and Dwina at what must have been something like two in the morning. Very caring.
S
O HERE I
sit by the timeless waters of the River Thames, which has been flowing to the sea, via one route or another, for fifty-eight million years and shows little sign of letting up. I’ve ‘seized the day’: made decisions, some right, some wrong, some beneficial and some downright catastrophic. Time passes quickly. I didn’t believe that when I was a teenager. I assumed it would stand still … for me at least. I believed the maxim expounded by Pete Brown and Piblokto, ‘The Art School Dance Goes on Forever’. My relationships have been fun and I’ve stayed on excellent terms with my long-term girlfriends, but clearly, for one reason or another, they weren’t meant to be lifetime partners. As the Beatles opined, Tomorrow Never Knows … or maybe they were wrong.
On the radio front, I have worked with so many incredible people, but Neil ffrench Blake and Doreen Davies cannot be credited enough for their inspiration, common sense, passion and belief in me, for which I thank them with copious amounts of gratitude and love.
On the songwriting side, my earliest publisher and promoter of
my first hit, Dave Most deserves a special mention, as does Barry Mason for listening to my early songs and being encouraging and supportive. Bless you both.
As a galvanising force and inspiration to young people, Eric St John Foti, inventor and mentor, gave many the belief in themselves they needed to face the world.
I salute three great writers with whom I’ve worked extensively, Rupert Brooke, Oscar Wilde and Sir John Betjeman.
I was genuinely delighted for Vanessa when she was awarded the OBE. A just reward for a lot of hard work, determination and fortitude. Well done Vanessa Brady OBE.
I still try to uphold the school motto, taken from Milton’s tractate
On Education
: ‘Justly, Skilfully, Magnanimously’. Having visited his blue plaque at Berkyn Manor near Colnbrook, where he lived from 1632 to 1638, I like to imagine the seeds of Milton’s statement on comprehensive reform were sown there before being published a few years later. Ergo, I can feel I have re-tuned to the original roots of the Wokingians’ motto.
We’re told that it’s not a good thing to have regrets. What rubbish. If I wish to wallow in the odd regret or two, why shouldn’t I? They’re
my
regrets. Everybody tells me what a good father I’d have made. I wish that I’d had children, but either the circumstances, timing, or nature of the relationship dictated otherwise. I could certainly have been more judicious with some of the business advice I took. I love radio and TV but I also wish I’d concentrated even more on the songwriting. It’s always been a deep and abiding passion. There have been copious amounts of fun, however, so no complaints there and it’s a great bonus to leap out of bed on a daily basis eagerly looking forward to the day. The crazy years of the rock & roll business flashed by before I noticed, and carried the past away, but the future, as always, holds allure, mystery and promise. As J. B. Priestley said, ‘I’ve always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.’
I’ve believed in the magic of the morning since being a child. The knowledge that the day could bring anything; that one could achieve anything … that there may just be some magic lurking somewhere, or if not it might be possible to create some.
As Horace scribbled in a wise moment after a particularly good breakfast,
carpe diem quam minimum credula postero
– ‘seize the day, but put little trust in tomorrow’. I do both.