If you loved the book
and/or film of Lynn Barber’s previous memoir An Education, then you definitely
need to read her frank and funny memoir A Curious Career, recounting many of the high profile
interviewees she has encountered in her relentless career for the broadsheets.
In An Education, we
encountered teenage Lynn being seduced by a conman whose dominance threatened
to ruin her life. But we also encountered a fiercely intelligent and feisty young
woman who walked away from that situation determined never to be taken
advantage of again.
A Curious Career doesn’t
quite pick up where An Education left off, but it does join Lynn in the late
1960s when she starts working for Penthouse magazine and lands a plum gig
interviewing Salvador Dali at his home. Discovering she has quite the talent
for putting celebrities at their ease, and playing up to her own inherent nosiness,
Lynn rapidly progresses to interviewing for the big titles in the UK,
ultimately ending up in the rare position of being able to pick and choose her
subjects. An almost unheard of luxury for a journalist these days.
What Lynn really does
well in A Curious Career is spill the beans on who was naughty (Marianne
Faithfull, Martin Clunes) and who was nice (Shane McGowan stands out in a
league of his own). As well as discovering how hideous sportspeople are to
interview – I can thankfully say in that in 15+ years of being a journalist, I
have managed to avoid ever having to interview a sportsperson: and can’t imagine
a more boring subject!
As you’d expect from
the woman dubbed The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Lynn doesn’t hold back on
the gossip and the facts about those she met who were despicable people, and
that makes A Curious Career all the more delicious to read. Coupled with the
fact you also get the impression Lynn is giving a pretty fair impression of
them and their behaviour, you feel as if you’re reading the notes of a woman
who really doesn’t give a toss if their lawyers complain.
And what a fantastic
position to be in that is.
Lynn Barber is in
Bristol on Thursday, May 15, talking about A Curious Career at the Festival of
Ideas. Please click here for more information.
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