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Only mad dogs and English
Former Bee Gees manager and celebrity cricket godfather David English is an irrepressible optimist who counts the likes of Freddie' Flintoff and Eric Clapton among his close friends. NEETA DUTTA meets The Loon' at the launch of his second autobiography.
"This one is straight from the heart it is a book of love, a work of love," declares David English MBE about his new book, the very frank and open Confessions of a Dedicated Englishman.
Chronicling not only his career in the music industry, from his time as a press officer for Decca record company to becoming manager of the Bee Gees during their peak in the 1970s, the book also delves into personal territory. Love affairs, marriage, children, regrets and happy recollections are all gathered together in a colourful and honest way.
"It chronicles all the important moments, the people I have met, the things I have done." he says. "I had always thought of writing as a hobby. Music and cricket have been my major passions, but writing is a way of expressing everything."
The book took a year to write, with moments of reflection and inspiration often occurring during long walks in Hendon Park. "I would go there and think," he explains. "Love affairs would come back to me. It's like memories would come upon me like a kaleidoscope and then I would start writing. It all began in Hendon really."
English, who lives in Mill Hill, is fiercely proud of the area, recently setting up cricket and rugby school scholarships at Mill Hill School, in The Ridgeway, and becoming president of Finchley Cricket Club. His love of cricket, which he describes in his book as the greatest of all sports' and one in which he found an enduring metaphor for life itself', has at times got him into a bit of trouble.
"I was 18 when I was hit by a car," he says. "I was walking home in Hendon and saw a game of cricket going on and just without thinking, ran across the road to go join in. Typical really, live-for-the-moment attitude, no thought for the consequences. I just love the game."
Forewords to the book by actor Stephen Fry and former tabloid editor Piers Morgan and contributions from Bee Gee Barry Gibb, comedian Rory Bremner and even a note from Tony Blair, among others provide a flavour of the impact English has had on a diverse range of people due to his love of cricket.
He is described as a royal pain in the arse' by long-time friend and rock legend Eric Clapton, but it is this persistence that has led to more than £9 million being raised for charity since 1986 by the celebrity cricket team he founded, Bunbury CC.
At the launch of the new book on Monday night, England captain Andrew Freddie' Flintoff showed genuine affection for its author who founded the England Schools' Cricket Association, where Flintoff played by kissing him on the head a number of times.
Another guest, Jeffrey Archer, describes English as mad' in the book. But the novelist goes on to explain that it is a madness to be celebrated because it takes a particular brand of madness that turns into an obsession, and then ends up benefiting so many other people's lives'. For Mr Morgan, who attended the launch party at Lord's cricket ground on Monday, English's influence can be best understood by witnessing the self-confessed Loon' chatting to the England team while they were playing a Test match.
"They all look shocked at first," Morgan explains in his foreward to the book. "Then they spy the Loon's cheeky smiling face, and they start laughing."
At 60 years of age, English's enthusiasm for life shows no signs of abating and he says: "Every day is a blank sheet, you will never get that page again and so every day you have to achieve something. You have 24 hours to do something. It can be big, it can be small but it must be something."
He recalls writing the book and how his old-fashioned method of using pen and paper raised a few eyebrows.
"I write in longhand. I can't use a computer, so I would put all my pages in a brown envelope and pass it on to a secretary, Jane," he says. "It looked like we were having some sort of wild affair because we would meet in this car park and I would pass her over the envelope on the sly."
He laughs cheekily at the memory and it becomes apparent how his charm has carried him through countless exciting scenarios from teaching Robert Redford how to play cricket on the set of A Bridge Too Far to listening to Joni Mitchell record songs in her private studio.
"People are always pre-occupied with either the future or the past, but I say live for the present. It's the little moments in the present that make you happy," he adds with a very happy sigh.
Confessions of a Dedicated Englishman was published on Friday and is priced £17.99.
11:42am Thursday 11th May 2006
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