That quotation was from one of my first mentors in journalism – and I still stick by it today.
I have been a journalist on national newspapers for more than 30 years and am now the author of more than a dozen books on key sportsmen of our time, and it still makes me smile when I hear some of the rubbish would-be Martin Amises spout.
The people we are dealing with in football, sport generally, music and celebrity are not philosophers or the aforementioned hospital lifesavers – yet some writers, and publishers, would have you believe that they are just that.
I remember when I did my first book on Wayne Rooney and a publisher agreed to look at it. He rang me and I could almost see his lip curling in true aristocratic pompous-style as he told me: “The problem is it does not take me into the socio, psychological world of Rooney. It does not take into account the economic and social factors behind his rise. I would really need that input to take a punt on it.”
Bemused, I promptly sold it a day later to a publisher who knew what we were talking about here: Wayne Rooney, footballer extraordinaire and a young lad who had perhaps had his head turned by some of the excesses money and youth can bring. Nothing more; there was no great philosophical or sociological statement to be gained.
The world of entertainment is a great one in which to be involved and grow up. I was lucky enough to write for what used to be the Melody Maker at a very young age. I was their North of England correspondent and it was the next best thing to being a pop star.
A young lad from North Manchester interviewing and staying in the same hotel as the Rolling Stones etc. Of course it went to my head! I paid a price: losing much in a fantasy world of rock 'n’ roll excess. But even in hindsight, it is a cheque I would gladly issue once again. I was privileged to break some of the biggest artists to come from the North of England in the 80s.
I did the first interviews with Jarvis Cocker, New Order, Morrissey, OMD and was there backstage cheering the likes of the Human League on. I also loved some being part of the more experimental music at the time – Cabaret Voltaire, the Box, Person to Person and Syncopation.
With my books, the focus has been on my joint first love – football. My book on Rooney was the first on the boy and I was privileged to do a follow-up to Roy Keane's magnificent autobiography, and, moving at a slight tangent, the first biog on Lewis Hamilton.
The Hamilton story encapsulates for me exactly what a great sports book should be about: The overcoming of adversity and the advent of a legend.
Thanks for taking time out to take a peek.
All the best for now.