The Week - UK (2021-07-17)

10 NEWS People

THEWEEK 17 July 2021

Anaccessibleactor

DavidHarbourdeveloped

apassionfortheatreafter

beingdiagnosedwithbipolar

disorder.Hefoundthemore

heacted,thebetterhefelt.But

whilehehadarichcareeron

stage,filmwasjustawayof

payingthebills.InHollywood,

“Iwasbasicallytheguywho

runsafterDenzelwithagun!”

ThenhewascastintheNetflix

hitStrangerThings,andfound

thathisagewasfinallyonhis

side.“I’vealwaysbeenwaiting

tobe 40 yearsold,”hetold

AlexiDugginsinThe

Guardian.“Evenasa20-year-

oldIneverhadthatbounceor

spring.”Inlockdown,the

actingstopped,sohelooked

forotherwaysofmanaging

hisbipolar.Havinglonghada

reputationforbeingaccessible

tofans(heonceofficiatedat

afan’swedding),heinvited

peopletotexthimabouthow

theywerecoping, and sent

themmessages inreturn.

“Ijustlove that connection,”

he smiles.“Ijustreally love

people; Ilovetheirstories.”

Horror for children

Horror isnotagenrenormally

associatedwithchildren,but

R.L.Stinehasbuilthiscareer

on it, says JamieGraham in

TheSundayTimes.The

Americanwriter isresponsible

fortheGoosebumpsbooks,

whichhave sold morethan 40 0

million copies.Ofcourse, his

frightsare basedon ghostsand

ghouls,not“real-world”fears

suchas serialkillers;hegives

hisstories ahappyending(the

onetimehedidn’t, hisfans

wereoutraged). Andhenever

deliversamoralmessage.

“Untilfairlyrecently,the

charactersinchildren’s[books]

hadtolearnandgrow.AndI

alwaysthought,‘Why?’The

booksIread,thecharacters

don’tlearnandgrow.Why

can’tkidshavebooksthatare

justentertaining?”Theformula

hasworkedfor 35 years,which

isremarkable,givenhowmuch

haschangedinthat time.The

biggest,forStine,istech.“Cell

phoneshaveruinedallmyster-

ies,everyplot.Teenagerspick

upaphoneandcallforhelp.

[But]thescarythingsIreadas

akid,inthe 195 0s...westill

havethesamefears.We’re

afraidofthedark,afraidof

somehideouscreature,afraid

ofbeinginastrangeplace.”

Imbruglia’squieterlife

Aged22,thesoapstarturned

singerNatalieImbrugliahada

massivehitwith herfirst single,

Torn,says Rosamund Deanin

TheSunday Telegraph.Itsold

fourmillion copies,creatinga

huge weightofexpectation.

She reactedbyretreatingfrom

publicview.Now46,she lives

quietlyin Oxfordshirewith

her son, and thoughshe isstill

recording,she looksback in

amazementat her younger

self.Shewasonly 1 6when

she was cast inNeighbours.

“Whenmy niece got tothat

age,Iwaslike,‘HowwasI

livingin Melbournewithout

my parents,and lovingit?’

SometimesIwish Ihad that

confidence now.It’seasier

whenyou’reakid.Theworld’s

your oysterandyouhaven’t

had theschoolofhard

knocksyet.”

Arising star of the Labour Party, Peter Kyle was recently promoted

to shadow schools minister–though at 50, he hasareading age

of only eight. His dyslexia is so severe, he has to work late into

the night to get through his briefing notes, and giving scripted

speeches isarealchallenge. Some phrases are like “potholes in a

road”, he told Rachel Sylvester in The Times–“hard to spot until

you’re on them and everything shudders”. But Kyle has overcome

worse. His school days, in Bognor Regis, were by turns confusing

and humiliating. No one could understand why this bright boy was

failing so badly. He left withasingl eGCSE, which he parlayed into

alowlyjobinthe accounts department at The Body Shop. “I was

absolutely crap at it. ButIdidn’ twantanyone to know thatIwas

useless, soIused to go in on Sunday morning, very early, and

plough through it all.” Only one other person came in at weekends:

the firm’s founder, Anita Roddick. She took the teenager under her

wing, and when he was 25, she suggested he apply to university.

First, though, he had to go back to school, to study forAlevels.

He recalls walking intoaclas sfullof16-year-olds. “They thought

Iwas the supply teacher.Ithought, ‘This isahumiliating situation,

but I’m not going to be humiliated.’” He threw himself into it;

finishedatwo-yearcourse in one; and at the end, he was invited to

aprize-giving ceremony. “They gave me an award for persistence.”

Viewpoint:

In se arch of boredom

“The idea that boredom is good forus

–particularlyinchildhood, becauseit

encouragesimagination andcreativity

–iswell established. Boredom,

however,hasbecomeaweirdly

elusive state. Throughout this long and

gruelling pandemic,Idon’t thinkIhave

ever feltboredmyself.If Iwantmy

children to beproperlybored–not just

fed up andlistless–Imusthideall the

screens. Thereis,apparently,aflurry

of academic interestinboredom atthe

moment,with researchersaroundthe

world studying how peoplecopedwith

boredom during lockdowns.Isuspect

they will learnalot aboutloneliness,

anxiety, grief,stir-craziness. But

boredom?Weshouldbe so lucky.”

JemimaLewis in The DailyTelegraph

Farewell

DilipKumar,

”Bollywood’s Marlon

Brando” who starred

in more than 60films

andbecame one of

the mostfamousfaces

of Hindi cinema, died

7July, aged 98.

Robert DowneySr.,

arthouse director of

Putney Swopeand

father of the actor of

the same name, died

7July, aged 85.

RaffaellaCarrà,Italian

singer, dancer,actress,

andTVpersonality

knownas the“Queen

of Italia ntelevision”,

died5July, aged78.

Book:EssaysandLetters, Plays and Poems,

Storiesby Oscar Wilde

Luxury:aguitar

*Choic eifallowed only

one record

Castawayofthe week

Thisweek’s edition of Radio 4’sDesert Island Discsfeatured

the veterinary surgeon Professor Noel Fitzpatrick

1*One,written and performed by U

2 Love of My Lifeby Freddie Mercury,performedbyQueen

3 Stairway toHeavenby Jimmy Page andRobert Plant,

performed by LedZeppelin

4 Do Anything You WantToby Phil Lynott, performed by

Thin Lizzy

5 Walking in MyShoesby Martin Gore, performed by

Depeche Mode

6 Ruby Tuesdayby Mick Jagger and KeithRichards, performed

by theRollingStones

7 Uprisingby Matt Bellamy, performed by Muse

8 Nothing ElseMattersby James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich,

performed by Metallica