fionacalda's review
3.0
I’ve been following Cliff Richard’s case very closely and so when I found Paul Gambaccini had written about his experience with false accusations I was keen to read what he had gone through.
I have a lot of admiration for Gambaccini as I’m quite a pop music nerd myself, and I wish I knew his work more but being in Australia I don’t get that opportunity. In fact, finding a copy of this book was challenging as well.
It was appalling that Gambaccini had been arrested in the first place on the basis of such stupid and flimsy accusations, and worse that he kept on being re-bailed over and over again for 12 months, being in limbo, unable to work, and the draining of his finances in legal fees. It was sad too reading about the organisations that shunned him during this time.
The book takes the form of a diary that he kept during the time. He writes about his case in detail, conversations he has with his lawyer, messages and supportive encounters with his friends, the appalling shunning from organisations, the uninvitations, but much of the book is padded out with lunches and dinners at restaurants, recollections of hobnobbing with other celebrities, and music and theatre stories.
The one crucial thing that was missing, for me, was any emotional content. Didn’t really see any until right at the end. Every time I see Cliff Richard tell his story, my heart breaks and I weep in sympathy for him. He tells it with so much raw emotion it’s hard not to feel broken on his behalf. But Gambaccini didn’t manage to convey this with his story. He spoke of ‘anger’ and ‘trauma’, so he did go through that, but how? Just saying “I am angry” doesn’t cut it for me, I want to see and feel his anger and trauma to be convinced of it, and this he only does right at the end of the book. Up until then for me it felt like his Yewtree bail was told too matter-of-factly, his reactions to re-bails feeling the same as his walks in the park, ice creams, sandwiches, pop songs and celebrity lunches.
I have a lot of admiration for Gambaccini as I’m quite a pop music nerd myself, and I wish I knew his work more but being in Australia I don’t get that opportunity. In fact, finding a copy of this book was challenging as well.
It was appalling that Gambaccini had been arrested in the first place on the basis of such stupid and flimsy accusations, and worse that he kept on being re-bailed over and over again for 12 months, being in limbo, unable to work, and the draining of his finances in legal fees. It was sad too reading about the organisations that shunned him during this time.
The book takes the form of a diary that he kept during the time. He writes about his case in detail, conversations he has with his lawyer, messages and supportive encounters with his friends, the appalling shunning from organisations, the uninvitations, but much of the book is padded out with lunches and dinners at restaurants, recollections of hobnobbing with other celebrities, and music and theatre stories.
The one crucial thing that was missing, for me, was any emotional content. Didn’t really see any until right at the end. Every time I see Cliff Richard tell his story, my heart breaks and I weep in sympathy for him. He tells it with so much raw emotion it’s hard not to feel broken on his behalf. But Gambaccini didn’t manage to convey this with his story. He spoke of ‘anger’ and ‘trauma’, so he did go through that, but how? Just saying “I am angry” doesn’t cut it for me, I want to see and feel his anger and trauma to be convinced of it, and this he only does right at the end of the book. Up until then for me it felt like his Yewtree bail was told too matter-of-factly, his reactions to re-bails feeling the same as his walks in the park, ice creams, sandwiches, pop songs and celebrity lunches.
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