Author: Tim Ewbank, Stafford Hildred
Year: 1991
ISBN: 0-7472-0345-8
Price: £14.95
Headline,
UK
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THE
FIRST English language book in nine years written by two 'showbiz'
type writers who you may have heard of from various TV listing
mags and tabloids. The book gives a fair enough account of the
story and sticks closely to the events detailed in Tremlett's
first efforts. It does, however, contain new information and
interviews from Long John Baldry, Brian Auger and the otherwise
never heard of Rod Sopp who was apparently an old pal of Rod's.
All provide new and often amusing stories.
I assisted the authors with much of the research for this book
on the agreement that the SMILER address would appear. It didn't
and although the magazine was mentioned in passing in the text,
I felt cheated. A few months later, Tim Ewbank offered to pay
for the use of part of a SMILER interview in which Rod spoke
about hallucinating after taking prescribed drugs before a concert
in Sheffield. His offer was declined and he was expressly asked
not to use it. It was explained to him that Rod granted SMILER
interviews for fan club use only and they were not intended
for the press. Ewbank chose to ignore this and an article appeared
in the Sunday Mirror for which he was no doubt paid for. We
have not spoken since and he has been deleted from the complimentary
list!
This book is still available in paperback if you search hard
enough. The original hardback is worth around its original selling
price.
Two German translations are available:
- Forever Young, Rastloses Herz mit rauher Kehle (Hannibal Verlag,
ISBN: 3-85445-090-7, 1991, Germany)
- Forever Young (Heyne, ISBN: 3-453-11651-8, 1997, Germany)
John Gray
Smiler rating: B
Reader rating:  (2 votes) |
