Our Patch march 2017
Bailey’ S ODYSSEY
Shepherds Bush author Paul Bailey, his books and his cat
PICTURES: JUSTIN THOMAS
SHELF LIFE Gifted writer and raconteur Paul Bailey turns 80 and is still showing us what a prodigious talent he is, writes Tim Harrison
One of west London’ s most critically acclaimed writers, Paul Bailey, turns 80 … and shows no sign of slowing up.
“ I’ m trying not to think about it,” he admitted in the house in Davisville Road, Shepherds Bush, that he has called home since 1972 – when it was still( just) possible to buy and have change from £ 20,000. It is now half a century since his first novel, At The Jerusalem, appeared, winning the prestigious Somerset Maugham award.
“ It was a book about old women, yet today, I’ m writing some of my most youthful prose ever,” he said, with the characteristic twinkle in his eye.
There’ s always something mischievous and conspiratorial about a conversation with Paul; as well as being a gifted writer he is a superb raconteur, eternal name-dropper and irredeemable gossip.
fresh LOOK & new menu FOR FAMOUS ALBERTINE WINE BAR
6 / 7
Allegra McEvedy
Paul was attracted to Shepherds Bush by its stimulating multi-culturalism.
“ This was a predominantly working class area in the early 70s,” he said.
“ There were a lot of Polish and Irish residents, and black families from Jamaica. It was long before POSK [ the Polish centre in King Street, Hammersmith ] was established, so all the Poles used to congregate in a big deli on Shepherds Bush Green. POSK didn’ t really arrive until Thatcher’ s time.
“ Now I tell people that I don’ t live on the posh side of Askew Road … but I still adore this area and its characters.”
In some shape or other, several have made it on to the pages of his dozen novels, which include the Bookershortlisted Peter Smart’ s Confessions and Gabriel’ s Lament, a timeless read which would have been a worthy winner, but which was pipped to the post by Kingsley Amis’ s The Old Devils.
Having decided to shelve a halfwritten novel about an actor’ s descent
Allegra McEvedy, the culinary powerhouse behind the Leon restaurant chain, is taking on a new challenge. Albertine, the wine bar which was beloved by TV and media stars of nearby Television Centre, is McEvedy ' s latest passion. It ' s one that is particularly dear to her heart as her late mother used to run the Wood Lane bar. Albertine is reopening after a refit. " We ' re going to be a wine bar with more food." albertine. london. Call: 020 8743 9593 into madness, Paul is currently working on a semi-autobiographical novel about people he has known. The working title is Foreign Friends.
“ I don’ t know how it’ s happened that I’ ve made it to 80,” he said.“ In a way it’ s a mixed blessing, but it is a lot to do with advances in medicine.”
Today, I ' m writing some of my most youthful prose ever
Fifteen years ago he collapsed on a visit to Romania, where a heart condition was confirmed in a hospital in the Black Sea city of Constanta.
Flown home to London, clutching a set of scribbled medical notes, he was treated at Hammersmith Hospital( after the jottings had been translated by a trainee doctor on the cardiac ward).
“ I’ ve been in their care ever since, with a succession of brilliant doctors, all on the NHS,” he said with, well, heartfelt gratitude.
He had just finished the novel Uncle Rudolf, but has since produced Chapman’ s Odyssey(“ I felt compelled to write it; it’ s about a man dying in hospital and quoting poetry!”) and The Prince’ s Boy, a melancholic love story about a young Romanian, partly set in a Paris brothel.
Romania crops up again and again. Another fine novel, Kitty and Virgil( published in 1998), is about the relationship of an Englishwoman and a Romanian poet.
“ I first visited the country when it was still a dictatorship in early 1989,” he said.
As he celebrates his 80th, he can reflect that there may be many more to come. Longevity is a trait on his mother’ s side of the family, while a half sister lasted to 99.