The Medusa Fora

Dear Mr Chevron,
I, and I imagine countless others over the age of 40 recently settled down to enjoy the weekend of tributes to Stiff Records on the BBC.
I was thoroughly enjoying my evening until suddenly during the second episode of "stiff at the BBC" I witnessed a sight which has left me profoundly traumatised - the sight of yourself Mr Chevron, a man who may I say I have always found to be "dapper" in the choice of ones attire, wearing something that unfortunately awoke within me a thankfully long repressed memory.
What was this you may ask?
During the video of Dirty Old Town, I was horrified to see you wearing a pair of exceedingly large, baggy, ill-fitting trousers, the sight of which made me realise that all along my wife has been right and that during the eighties I really wasn't a fashionista whilst wearing similar trousers.
This has now affected my life in so many ways- I have had to face up to the fact that I cannot sing "Careless Whisper" really well after 10 pints of Guinness, and that it really is now time as she says to throw away my pastel blue "Miami Vice" suit.
As you may now realise Sir, I am having to live in the real world, something I have sucessfully avoided for the last 25 yrs, indeed only yesterday I remembered I have a 24 yr old daughter and the cheques were to cover her university accomodation rather than a subscription to Amnesty International.
I feel therefore that whilst I am not at heart a litigious person, the very least I expect is a heartfelt apology, a guarantee that future programmes carry a "warning 40+ advisory" or failing that, the addition of "Kitty" to the setlist this year, something which my therapist says may aid my recovery, alongside my attendance, at his insistence, at both the Manchester and Nottingham shows. Both incidentally to be paid for by my loving wife.

Yours sincerely

Mr A N Grey

What a great letter and soooooo true If her indoors read this letter she would think it had come from me

Brian Boru wrote:
... the addition of "Kitty" to the setlist this year, something which my therapist says may aid my recovery, ....

Nice leverage.

Laugh? I nearly coughed up a Flock Of Seagulls wearing Adam Ant hand-me-downs. Oh, Vienna!

I have never worn a pair of baggy trousers in my life that were not tailored to within an inch of their lives. Moreover, I was wearing such kecks as far back as 1974. I know this because, every time Agnes Bernelle described our first meeting to interviewers, for the rest of her life she always insisted that "Philip was wearing his father's clothes" which upset my Dad almost as much as it upset me. Imagine my horror when I heard myself telling someone recently (possibly Carol Clerk) that "At my first meeting with Agi, I was wearing my father's clothes". It seemed churlish to retract that later. How comfortably one slips into one's caricature.

However, if you're referring to the Pogues on The Old Grey Whistle Test, I can only apologize. Nobody was more traumatized than I when I saw the programme. My Parisian tailor never got to make another suit and I gave that one away.

Besides. I don't really remember the 80s. Was I there?