10 NEWS People
THEWEEK 29 February 2020
Fellowesonadyingelite
“I’vealwaysbeeninterestedby
socialchange,”JulianFellowes
toldBryanAppleyardinThe
SundayTimes.TheDownton
AbbeycreatorandTorypeer
sayseveryeraendswithsome
“Luddites”failingtoadaptas
theworldmovesonaround
them.So,whosetimeis
runningoutnow?“The
left-of-centremetropolitanelite
havehadquiteagoodrun,”
hesays.“Foralongtimethe
sortofauthoritiesthatcontrol
everything–notjusttheBBC,
whichistheusualmoan,but
theNationalTheatre,the
NationalGallery,theNational
Trust,thenationalthis,the
nationalthat–haveallbeen
speakingwithonevoice.It’s
beenakindofHampstead
voice.Andtheyhavedealt
withtheiropinionsasifthey
werefacts,andeveryone
else’sopinions asifthey were
nonsense.” Buthehimself, he
claims,doesn’t reallytakesides
inthesesocialbattles. “Ijust
watch peoplebehaveandhow
theyrespond,”Fellowessays.
“Ienjoywatching situations...
human situationsplayout.”
ANobelwinner indisguise
Before OlgaTokarczuk won
the 2 018 NobelPrizefor
Literature,she was certainly
notapublicfigure, saidJames
Shotterin theFT.Soonafter,
the Polish novelistand poet
wenttoahardwarestore.
“Peoplestartedcomingup to
me,touchingme,huggingme,”
shesays.“Someonestarted
crying.Everyonewaslooking
at meanditwashorrible.”
ManyPoleswereproud,and
salesofherexperimental
fictionsoared.ButtoPoland’s
nationalistRight,thesuccessof
anoutspokenleft-wingfeminist
wasanaffront.“Afterabit
Igotscared,”shesays.Now
she’stryingtokeepalower
profile.“Recentlywewentto
ashopand Idisguisedmyself.
Iletmyhairdown,putona
beret,putonsunglasses.”Even
then,whenshewasbuying
walnuts,aladycameupto
herandasked:“‘MrsOlga
Tokarczuk?’Thatbrokeme
downcompletely.”
Stayingaliveinawarzone
Overalmostthreedecadesas
awarsurgeon,DavidNott has
seenhumanityatitsworst,said
JessamyCalkininTheSunday
Telegraph:snipersinBosnia,
rapeinSudan,barrelbombsin
Syria.Hehassavedscoresof
lives–riskinghisowntodo
so.Thekeytostayingsafe, he
says,iskeepingpeople closeto
you. “Youcan’t stopbulletsor
bombs...but you candevelop
relationships with people
whereby theydon’twant you
to die–ortheydon’twant you
to beinasituationwhereby
your lifeisat risk.”When he
was inAleppo in 2014 hewas
the onlyWesternerin thatpart
of Syria,apart fromJames
FoleyandAlanHenning,who
had been kidnapped byIsisand
“whowerethenbeheadedby
JihadiJohnabout 40kmaway
fromwhereIwas.Everybody
knewIwas thereand itwould
havetakenonephonecall.”
Mosthumans, hebelieves,
are good. “Butit doesn’ttake
much topushsomebodyover
to theoppositeside.”
Slightly chubby, dishevelled and definitely not Brad Pitt, Lewis
Capaldi is an unlikely heart-throb, said Will Hodgkinson in The
Times. Yet the singer, 23, has won admirers the world over; fans
shout marriage proposals and crowds beg him to take his clothes
off. No wonder Capaldi–the son ofafishmonger and nurse from
East Lothian–finds fame strange. “Who knows? MaybeIwill
becomeanabsolute arsehole diva in the next couple of years, but
right nowIcan’t imagine ever not feeling out of place.” He is happy
to laugh at himself, though; one tongue-in-cheek poster campaign
recently featured an unflattering photo of him withatowel around
his head, dubbing him “the Scottish Beyoncé”. “It’s 2020. You can’t
take yourself too seriously any more because people see through
it. Can you imagine chuckingaTVout of ahotel window today?
Everyone would just look at you and say, ‘We were watching that,
you prat’.” Although he’s jolly in person, his songs tend to be sad;
his biggest hitSomeoneYouLovedwas about his grandmother’s
death;BeforeYouGois about an aunt’s suicide. “I don’t want to
writeasong about being chubby.Idon’t want to writeasong about
my pubes. I’ve had the best few years of my life, but in the periods
when things have been bad, I’ve put them intoasong. They are
more interesting to write about because those moments stick out.”
Viewpoint:
The cost of going green
“Likemany other Europeans,I’ve
beguncommuting by bike.Ibought
an excellent newbike, twolocks and
ahelmet forabouts300. That’s about
1%of the averageprice ofanew car,
and I’llneverneedpetrol. Bicycle
repairs rarelycostmuch, andifmybike
isn’tstolen, nobodywillearn another
centoutofmyurban transport for
anotherdecade orso. Cyclingisclean
and healthy, but if it does grow,itwill
decimate jobsand reduce gross domestic
product:the story of thebicycleisthe
myth of‘green growth’in onedevice.
If weshiftfrom carsto bikes,and buy
less stuff,going green will meanless
growth–andnopolitician ever got
electedpromisingless GDP.”
SimonKuperin the FinancialTimes
Farewell
“Mad” MikeHughes,
FlatEarther and steam
rocket daredevil, died
22 February, aged 64.
Katherine Johnson,
pioneering Nasa
mathematician, died
23 February, aged 101.
Ailsa Maxwell,
Bletchley Park
codebreaker, died
10 February, aged 97.
HosniMubarak,former
president of Egypt, died
25 February, aged 91.
LarryTesler,creatorof
the cut, copy and paste
commands, died
17 February, aged 74.
Book:DancingwithDemons:TheAuthorisedBiography
ofDustySpringfieldby Penny Valentine
Luxury:Martin ac oustic guitar *Choice if allowed only one record
Castaway of the week
Thisweek’seditionofRadio4’sDesert Island Discsfeatured
MelanieC,singer,songwriterandSpiceGirl
1*IWish,written and performed by Stevie Wonder
2 TheChain,written and performed by Fleetwood Mac
3 PrinceCharming,written by Adam Ant&Marco Pirroni,
performed by Adam andtheAnts
4 IntotheGroove,writte nbyMadonna andStephen Bray,
performed by Madonna
5 Girls&Boys,written andperformed by Blur
6 Everyt hingIWanted,written by BillieEilish O’Connell and
Finneas O’Connell, performed byBillie Eilish
7 Heave nonT heirMinds,written by Andrew Lloyd Webber
andTim Rice, performed byTimMinchin
8 You’llNeverWalkAlone,written by Richard Rodgers and
Oscar Hammerstein II, performed by Gerry and the Pacemakers