Alexei Sayle

[Kev]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/culture/2003/09/alexi/main.jpg

Alexei David Sayle is a British (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/U/United-Kingdom.htm) comedian (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/c/comedian.htm), actor (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/a/actor.htm) and Communist (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/C/Communism.htm). He was born in Anfield, Liverpool (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/L/Liverpool.htm), England (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/E/England.htm) on August 7 (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/A/August-7.htm), 1952 (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/1/1952.htm). He was a central part of the alternative comedy (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/a/alternative-comedy.htm) circuit in the early Eighties.

Overview

He has starred in many TV series and films, including The Comic Strip Presents (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/T/The-Comic-Strip.htm), The Young Ones (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/T/The-Young-Ones-%28TV-series%29.htm), and many stand-up comedy (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/s/stand-up-comedy.htm) series. He also co-wrote many programmes, including The Young Ones and five series of his own stand-up/sketch shows, Alexei Sayle's Stuff.

Alexei's humour is typically Milliganesque (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/S/Spike-Milligan.htm) yet original; for example a memorable sketch in Alexei Sayle's Stuff featured Alexei playing the part of Godot (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/W/Waiting-for-Godot.htm), hitch-hiking across contemporary northern England but never managing to get a lift.

In 1974 (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/1/1974.htm), he married Linda Rawsthorn.

He had hit singles in the 1980s (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/1/1980s.htm) with "'Ullo John! Gotta New Motor?" and "Didn't You Kill My Brother?"

In 1989 (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/1/1989.htm), he was awarded an International Emmy (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/E/Emmy-Award.htm) for his series Alexei Sayle's Stuff.

In 1995 (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/1/1995.htm), he was awarded an honorary professorship at the Thames Valley University (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/T/Thames-Valley-University.htm).

TV series



The Young Ones (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/T/The-Young-Ones-%28TV-series%29.htm) (1982)
Alexei Sayle's Stuff (October 1988-November 1991)
The All New Alexei Sayle Show (1994-1995)
Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round (1998)
Movies



Don't Walk (2001)
Reckless Kelly (1993)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/I/Indiana-Jones-and-the-Last-Crusade.htm) (1989)
Whoops Apocalypse (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/W/Whoops-Apocalypse.htm) (1986)
Gorky Park (1983)
Records



'Ullo John! Got A New Motor?/Pop-Up Toasters (Island) (7" IS162, 12" 12IS162)
Didn't You Kill My Brother? (CBS, 1985) (7" A6553)
Books



Train To Hell (Methuen, 9th February 1984; hardcover ISBN 0413524604, paperback ISBN 0413524701) — novel
Geoffrey the Tube Train and the Fat Comedian (Methuen, 1987; paperback)
Alexei Sayle's Great Bus Journeys Of The World (Methuen, October 1989; paperback ISBN 0413626709) — collected columns from Time Out (http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/T/Time-Out.htm)
Barcelona Plates (Sceptre, 17th February 2000; hardback ISBN 0340767529, paperback ISBN 0340767537) — short story collection
The Dog Catcher (Sceptre, 19th July 2001; hardcover ISBN 0340818689, paperback ISBN 0340819448) — short story collection
Overtaken (Sceptre, 1st September 2003; hardcover ISBN 0340767685) — despite Train To Hell, this was publicised as being Sayle's first novel

[lindylou]

I love Alexi Sayle :)
He's a good dancer too you know. Not many people realise this but he's seriously good at stuff like Latin American dance.

[Kev]

From a terraced house in Liverpool, through the crazy days of alternative comedy, Alexei Sayle has now reached a high perch in literary life. David Charters reports.

BEHIND his labrador eyes, darkened by the Russian/Jewish blood-line of his mother, the balding man, who has sprouted enough body hair to stuff a mattress, seems to see people passing him by as a parade of misfits on a lavishly buttered helter-skelter, whooshing uncontrollably to unknown destinations.

Yes, it could be said that God was in an experimental mood when he fashioned this bristling, combative chap and dropped him with a considerable thud into a terraced house in Liverpool in the grey post-war years when the brightest colour was on the Red Flag.

But then, as the son of communist parents, Alexei Sayle has never had much time for bruising his knees before God in a life which has taken him, bumping, cursing and laughing through grammar school, art college, rumbustious nights on the comedy circuit, radio, TV and movies, to his present lofty perch in literary London. Bloomsbury, to be precise.

But there is the ghost of a pause in his voice when Sayle, the son of a railway guard, says that he lives in half a Georgian house in the district, still celebrated for the famous "set", whose simpering ranks included Virginia Woolf, Maynard Keynes, Clive Bell and Lytton Strachey. more (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0100regionalnews/tm_objectid=16724346%26method=full%26siteid=50061% 26headline=it%2ds%2djust%2dme%2dgiving%2dmyself%2d a%2dgood%2dtime-name_page.html)

[DaisyChains]

Anybody know when Alexei's Liverpool is due to be on TV?

[Shapers]

A great man who was criticised by Scousers few years ago for speaking the truth.

[Kev]

Was he? What truth is this you speak of Shapers?

[Shapers]

Was he? What truth is this you speak of Shapers?

Yes Kev, when he said Scousers could be too sentimental. He could of used a better example than Hillsborough but he was crucified for speaking his mind.

[Steven]

As a matter of personal choice. I found him to be unfunny, disgusting and I would never watch him again.

[Shapers]

what way was he disgusting? Freddie Starr and Stan Boardman, are but can't say Alexie was.

[Kev]

Yes Kev, when he said Scousers could be too sentimental.

I'll make my own mind up I think.

[Shapers]

I'll make my own mind up I think.


You can Kev, and so can i.

[Steven]

I've already made my mind up on this one. There is a difference between the crudity at times of Stan and Freddie (which do carry a certain humour ) and the absolute distastefulness of your Mr. Sayle.

[Shapers]

I've already made my mind up on this one. There is a difference between the crudity at times of Stan and Freddie (which do carry a certain humour ) and the absolute distastefulness of your Mr. Sayle.


Depends really. Suppose Freddie Starr spitting beer into the audience, which he did in one of his videos is 'crude humour'. If he did it to me i would smack his face in.

[John(Zappa)]

Not fussy on Alexe meself.I always thought of him as a communist and an bit of an unfunny one too.I just don't like his humour or Dr Martens boots!!

[Steven]

Can I explain that I actually played guitar with Freddie Star and the Midnighters. The same guy had a bad bout of depression and should have got his job back on lines. He carried on and things did become worse. I believe that this was an illness and he is now trying to rectify it.

Alexi Sayles was not even forgiven by his mother, for his comments about Liverpool, nor will they ever be forgiven by me. As far as I am concerned he may as we apply for ajob on the Sun. They are both as welcome as farts in spacesuits in my part of the world.

[Shapers]

Can I explain that I actually played guitar with Freddie Star and the Midnighters. The same guy had a bad bout of depression and should have got his job back on lines. He carried on and things did become worse. I believe that this was an illness and he is now trying to rectify it.

Alexi Sayles was not even forgiven by his mother, for his comments about Liverpool, nor will they ever be forgiven by me. As far as I am concerned he may as we apply for ajob on the Sun. They are both as welcome as farts in spacesuits in my part of the world.

Can explain all you like about Freddie Starr, even my own dad and a guy i used to work with says hes a good bloke. But to me hes an unfunny pratt.

Alexi speaks his mind, and when people preach freedom of speech, it dosen't count if THERE own is in the firing line. And considering Scousers are always critical of outside towns, they cry foul when its not in there favour. So for your apply for the Sun comment is typical really.

[kevin]

Went to see Sayle at the Birmingham Hippodrome over 20 years ago. His 'humour' was based entirely upon swearing. I've no problem with swearing as such but if it is part of his act it has to be funny - it wasn't.

[lindylou]

I can't abide Freddie Star. As the saying goes, 'if he was performing in our backyard I'd draw the curtains' - ha !

Stan Boardman- we were amused by him during the 1970s - some bygone era. But I've gone off him now. :)


I liked Alexi Sayle during the 1980s and 90s when that style of humour was trendy. He was off his head ! and I don't know why we laughed at that mad stuff - The Young Ones, Bottom, etc, and that genre of comedy. I notice the young kids now are getting into it. They watch DVD's of all those old series.

As for the swearing - well, I actually contradict myself, because I don't really like foul language, and yet I love some comdians who swear. :neutral:
Some can get away with it, yet some just sound uncouth.

I like Lee Evans but his swearing spoils it for me. he doesn't suit swearing, it just sounds awful.
yet, I like Jack Dee and Billy Connolly, and they seem to get away with it and are dead funny.

I don't know why that is.

[Paul D]

Yes Kev, when he said Scousers could be too sentimental. He could of used a better example than Hillsborough but he was crucified for speaking his mind.

Being sentimental is one of the better human traits to have,there's nothing wrong with wearing your heart on your sleeve and if you can't see that then you've got the problem not this city.I suppose the whole country mourning Diana's death passed you by? Or indeed the tributes that are left for everyone else who's died for that matter,Phil O Donnell being the latest? If your like this now I'd hate to meet you as an old man,a guarenteed knife through the ball I think.:rolleyes:

[Shapers]

Being sentimental is one of the better human traits to have,there's nothing wrong with wearing your heart on your sleeve and if you can't see that then you've got the problem not this city.I suppose the whole country mourning Diana's death passed you by? Or indeed the tributes that are left for everyone else who's died for that matter,Phil O Donnell being the latest? If your like this now I'd hate to meet you as an old man,a guarenteed knife through the ball I think.:rolleyes:


Well, i never shed a tear for Princess Di when she died, why should i? I was not related to her, she led a privelidged life and was far from the 'poor little princess' the media made her out to be - after she died. I cried when my closes relatives died, i save my tears who i care about, not someone who wouldn't even blink if i died. And yes, all those people crying in my eyes was ridiculous. Get a grip is the first thing i saw when all the papers, tv channels and shops closed in 'respect' for what seemed like an age. Pathetic.

At least with the Hillsborough tragedy, people close to home were affected and does have a bit of justification for mourning. But why would i be upset for someone i don' know? Call me heartless i wasn't upset over Ken Bigley. Sure i felt sorry for his family, but i didn't know the man, why should i cry for him?

[Kev]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/images/2008/01/11/alexi_sayle_home_203x152.jpg

Alexei Sayle's Liverpool

Liverpool writer and comedian Alexei Sayle takes a tour of his hometown as it becomes European Capital of Culture.

As Liverpool begins its year as European Capital of Culture writer and comedian Alexei Sayle returns to his home city to assess what it has to offer and to see how the city has changed since he left.

Born in Anfield, within shouting distance of The Kop, Alexei Sayle says he's never forgotten his roots, "It's like that cockney 'bow bells' thing.

"You're the most authentic scouser if you're brought up within the sound of Anfield. So I'm an authentic scouser.

"The casual visitor I think is going to be amazed. I think it's very distinctive, the stuff in Liverpool."
Watch: "The most exciting city" - Alexei Sayle (http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/news/media/avdb/news/uk/video/144000/144185?size=16x9&bgc=C0C0C0&nbram=1&bbram=1) >Help (http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/categories/plug/real/real.shtml?intro) playing audio/video

The buildings in the World Heritage site area of William Brown Street particularly stand out for Alexei, "There is nothing like this collection of buildings anywhere else in Britain or anywhere else in the world.

"You step out of Lime Street Station and suddenly you're in ancient Rome, but eight times bigger."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/images/2006/07/20/stgeorges_body_150x200.jpg
Worthy of ancient Rome

Liverpool fell on hard times in the 1970's and 1980's but Alexei Sayle believes that a corner has now been turned, "You're going to take away a sense of past glories, but I think you're also going to catch a city at a moment that it's rising again."

"The centre is much better and some of the suburbs are fantastic."

As the city prepares to welcome the world what view does the well travelled Alexei Sayle now have of Liverpool?

"It's kind of wild and mad. There is poverty and deprivation but there's also extraordinary cultural wealth.

"I've travelled the world and I think for me the most exciting city I've ever been to is my home town."

BBC Liverpool

[badger]

In the last of the three programmes in June in the series 'Liverpool' it was stated as an opinion (I think I heard it properly) that the big clubs in Liverpool could probably do more for the 'deprived' areas that their clubs sit in e.g. Anfield - do you think that's true? Do they need to do more, or do they do enough already - and does it matter? I'm unsure - just interested.

[Howie]

Comic Alexei Sayle lends backing to celebrity protests against Israeli attacks
Jan 3 2009
Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL-BORN comedian and writer Alexei Sayle joined a line-up of celebrities calling on American president-elect Barack Obama to speak up against the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Last night Israel allowed hundreds of Palestinians with foreign passports to leave besieged Gaza.

But it kept up attacks for a sixth day, and ex-model Bianca Jagger, singer Annie Lennox and the former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, joined the campaign to end the violence.

Ms Jagger called to president-elect Obama to speak up, and said: "We must appeal to him to ask for the immediate cessation of the bombardment of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip."

Source: Liverpool Daily Post (http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/01/03/comic-alexei-sayle-lends-backing-to-celebrity-protests-against-israeli-attacks-64375-22596773/)

[wsteve55]

What can you say? If somebody keeps firing mortars,missiles,etc,at you,and your surrounded by potential enemies, what are you supposed to do.....smile!!! I'm supporting Israel on this!

[Howie]

http://web.onetel.net.uk/~howardpaterson/uploads/Protest.jpg

[Howie]

What can you say? If somebody keeps firing mortars,missiles,etc,at you,and your surrounded by potential enemies, what are you supposed to do.....smile!!! I'm supporting Israel on this!

And what would you do if you were one of the besieged and oppressed population of Gaza - sit there with your family and suffer or fight back?

[A.D.W]

What can you say? If somebody keeps firing mortars,missiles,etc,at you,and your surrounded by potential enemies, what are you supposed to do.....smile!!! I'm supporting Israel on this!

The West, including the British government, has supported the last two years' of blockade of the Palestinians in Gaza for the crime of exercising their democratic rights in a manner not to Israel's liking.

[redjed1]

And what would you do if you were one of the besieged and oppressed population of Gaza - sit there with your family and suffer or fight back?

I've never really though hard about the Israel / Palestine issue.

In biblical times there were the hebrews living in Palestine. Jesus came along and threw a spanner into the works, as far as the scribes / pharasees and high priests of the day (the sanhedren?) are concerned. This brings my first question -

In modern day terms, who side were the high priests on? Where do the jewish people fit in? After Jesus, the christians appeared. The likes of St Paul, St John, Mary Magdalene etc - who would they line up alongside?

Don't know about jewish history, but the next time they appear in our history is in the time of Richard the lionheart (Ivanhoe falls for a jewish girl, daughter of a money lender / the merchant of venice, with Shylock, another money person).

Then there is WW1, when the Brits are on the side of the palestinians.

WW2 when the jews of eastern europe are persecuted by the nazis. At the end of WW2, the jews return to their homeland (did the jews originate from what is now Israel?). Then the troubles start.

Are palestinians part of the arab nations? What religion are they?

Israel was formed to house the jewish people, but how many palestinians live in Israel? Israel seems a strong nation, fighting to maintain its territory. The palestinians appear a poor people with more than their fair share of hotheads (who come across as a parody of a scene from the Life of Brian). Yet somehow, between them, they have created a situation that no-one can solve.

Wouldn't it be nice if Barack Obama was able to get a consensus from other world leaders, then bang a few heads together to come up with a solution.

Above are my (rather simplistic) thoughts. If anyone can answer a few of the questions from above, I would be grateful.

Best wishes for a better year. John

[A.D.W]

One writer recently described conditions in Gaza:

' ... Israel nails shut the coffin that is Gaza under a siege that has lasted nearly three years, steadily intensifying so that malnutrition rates rival those of sub-Saharan Africa, sewage runs raw in the streets and pollutes the ocean, homes are still being bulldozed to super-add collective punishment upon collective punishment; men, women and children are still being sniped at and killed; children are deafened by continuing sonic booms, the vast majority of them suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome, and many of that majority have no ambition other than becoming "martyrs" ...'

[Paddy]

Without wishing to appear naive what has Alexi Sayle got to do with what is going on in the Middle East? Last time I saw him he was talking up the Philharmonic hotel. And Ringo should also not be included in the debate as he no longer lives in Liverpool. As for what is going on well it is all prime time viewing the festive show, remember the public execution of Saddam last year? Well back to work tomorrow, well college.:ninja:

[A.D.W]

It's called putting one's opinion across, Paddy.

[Howie]

Without wishing to appear naive what has Alexi Sayle got to do with what is going on in the Middle East?


?I think it?s important that Jewish people who have a public profile, that we speak out to say that this is not being done in our name. I think that Israel has an idea of itself as being noble. Israeli people have an idea of themselves as being noble. When you attack somebody but you have this idea of yourself that you?re the good guy and you think that well, how can this be? I?m the good guy and I?m killing these people, and what you do is you blame the people that you killed and you hear all the time from Israeli spokespeople that they are angry with the people they have murdered for making them murder them.? - Alexei Sayle

[Paddy]

Well perhaps I should have read the whole thread. I think propaganda is a tool that warfarer's need to carry on with their trade. This awful popaganda and use of the festive season is quite poor. The western world and the east and also Latin America will not be fooled by this. It is in terms of world politics pathetic and shows up all the shortcomings of the Bush administration. Israel also is making itself look stupid by trying to justify what amounts to supression, something the Jewish race hold in abhorrence. Well like I said we are a captive audience round this time of the year.

[Ged]

It does need to be solved around the table.

Palestinians use public places to fire their rockets from and also use civilian suicide bombers. Therefore can they blame the Israelis for firing into public areas.

Then again they will argue that Israel is the aggressor and this is only retaliation and the amount of air power Israel is using is disproportionate - like the equivalent of London sending Jet bombers into Ireland to sort out the IRA?

Last weeks figures showed something like 280 odd Palestinians killed to Israels 4.

One thing for sure is they are still living and thinking like biblical times. Borders were drawn after WWII, why can't people live in harmony in a designated area instead of the greedy pinching of land.

[Howie]

2,000 protest over Gaza invasion in Liverpool
Jan 5 2009
by Laura Sharpe, Liverpool Daily Post

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/liverpoolpost/jan2009/0/8/A68B3247-98A5-730C-7F1E34698C9D48C7.jpg

THOUSANDS of Merseyside protesters against the Israeli offensive in Gaza joined demonstrators across the country on Saturday.

More (http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/01/05/2-000-protest-over-gaza-invasion-in-liverpool-64375-22605092/)...

[wsteve55]

And what would you do if you were one of the besieged and oppressed population of Gaza - sit there with your family and suffer or fight back?

Well,I'm not going to disagree,how could I?! but thats just tit-for-tat, which is exactly whats going on in Gaza!! Militants/freedom fighters making thier own people, targets! They know what the response will be, when they fire another rocket,or blow up a bus full of innocent Israeli's!(of course,assuming there could be such a thing,at least in some peoples eyes!) I dont agree with every move the Israeli's make, they've got thier own psychopathic tendencies to deal with, but like recent events in Northern Ireland,( and who would have thought that possible,just a few years ago)a decision to end the violence, by both sides, seems to be the only way forward!

[Howie]

The situation is hardly the same. As Ged said, the British government didn't send the RAF to bomb Belfast to deal with the IRA did they?

[brian daley]

Israel is the biggest problem that the world faces today. the question of what is to be done is so complex that there are no quick and easy answers. The bull**** of the Road map of those two political illiterates Bush and Blair was never going to provide a solution . Islam and Judaism are in collision and we of the Christian west are caught in the after tow. The problem goes back to time immemorial ,when Vespasian dispersed the twelve tribes of Israel and cast them out from the land Canaan. These endless wanderers have suffered millennia of odium and mistrust,the pogroms and dispersals throughout the centuries culminating in the Nazi holocaust of the 1940s have bred a different kind of Jew,the Sabra. The Modern day Israeli is not about to let their nation be swept into the sea (Hamas's words) ,they were prepared to enter into a dialogue with Al Fatah ,Hamas wiped them out. The Islamic fanatics have a vested interest in keeping the unrest in Palestine alive,by this means they will seek the overthrow of Israel and advance the cause of Islam in Europe. The Palestinians are just a tool in the hands of Al Qauedas' cause. Yasser Arafat did not want this situation, nor do most moderate Moslems.
Remember this,when Hitler was gassing the countless millions of Jews in the Death camps ,the Grand Mufti in Jerusalem (the Islamic Pope) was calling for the execution of all Jews. It is easy to take sides on the evidence of the victims of bloody bombing and so called atrocities. Ask yourselves why an educated people seek recourse to such actions. Look at the repeated attacks that have been perpertrated against them over the decades and you will begin to understand how we have arrived at such a situation today.
I hate fascism and every other kind of ism, until we all realise that we all deserve a place in the world hatred and racism will rule mankind.
Bigotry and religious intolerance have paved the way to todays debacle.
I write as one who marched against the bombing of Hanoi, the jailing of Mandela,and the massacre of Shatila.
BrianD

[Howie]

I agree, we most definitely need to see the back of Bush and probably the deployment of an international force to the area to restore any kind of normality. The hopes expressed by some that the two sides involved in the conflict will end it are forlorn.

[wsteve55]

The situation is hardly the same. As Ged said, the British government didn't send the RAF to bomb Belfast to deal with the IRA did they?

No, but fairly recently, some body did exterminate 6 milion of them, so maybe they're a little sensitive? That wasn't quite the same as anything!!!

[A.D.W]

Israel's freedom of action is not only due to American tolerance and UK support. It is also a tribute to the success of Israel's own propaganda. A huge effort and very considerable resources are devoted to putting Israel's case to the world. Israel has managed to brain-wash a large part of the world into believing that it is a victim of Palestinian terrorism, whereas the truth is that Israel's own state terrorism -- its targeted assassinations, armed incursions, land theft, massacres and cruel siege of the Palestinians -- has been far more lethal than anything the Palestinians have ever managed to do themselves.

The record of the last eight years shows that between 200 and 300 Palestinians have been killed by Israel for every Israeli victim of Palestinian violence.

On a visit to President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris last week, Tzipi Livni did not hesitate to declare that Israel was being attacked by Hamas?s rockets because it was "defending the values of the free world."

:PDT_Xtremez_42:

[Howie]

Vigil is held for Gaza
Jan 8 2009
by Mary Murtagh, Liverpool Echo

http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/article/11162100/2009/01/07/12467762.jpeg

A CANDLELIT vigil for peace was held in Liverpool city centre last night.

The event on Church Street, which was attended by around 80 people, was organised by Liverpool Friends of Palestine and Merseyside Stop the War Coalition.

Peter Reilly, of Liverpool Friends of Palestine, said: ?People are frustrated about what is going on in Gaza.?

Source: Liverpool Echo (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2009/01/08/vigil-is-held-for-gaza-100252-22639042/)

[Howie]

Alexei Sayle fondly recalls his Liverpool roots
Apr 22 2009
by Luke Traynor, Liverpool Daily Post

LIVERPOOL comic Alexei Sayle last night spoke of his experience growing up in the city, during the first of this year?s university lectures.

The 56-year-old delivered an address to a packed Liverpool Philharmonic Hall entitled, Stalin Ate My Homework: Growing Up in the radical environment of Liverpool.

The Anfield-born author and actor spoke of his childhood and being brought up in a family with Communist values. He said: ?I grew up in a particularly Communist environment, in that my parents told me it was Lenin who came down the chimney at Christmas.?

Sayle also spoke of his rebellious youth as a member of the Merseyside Marxist Leninist Group, selling a newspaper called The Worker on the streets of Liverpool.

And he touched upon trips with his parents through the ?swingdoor? into Eastern Europe.

The comic described his memory of how the city?s beautiful pubs and buildings were ?destroyed overnight? in the huge redevelopment of Liverpool.

Recalling the people?s relocation from their homes to ?terrible flats and estates?, he added: ?This forced rehousing and destruction of this chaotic but enthrallingly beautiful city burns me to this day.?

Source: Liverpool Daily Post (http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2009/04/22/alexei-sayle-fondly-recalls-his-liverpool-roots-92534-23441810/)

[lindylou]

I went to see him last night.

It was a good turn out - a full house mainly - just a few odd seats left.
He gave an interesting and entertaining talk.

[Howie]

May 3, 2009

20 years on: Alexei Sayle

I felt foolish about my left-wing ideals when the Berlin Wall came down, admits Alexei Sayle

As the son of communist revolutionaries, I am used to having a different response to everybody else in the course of Earth-shattering incidents.

During the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 ? which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war ? our version of events was that it was all a plan by the Soviet Union to bounce the US into agreeing to never again attempt to invade Cuba, and to force Americans to remove their nuclear missiles from Turkey in exchange for the Russians simply dismantling some rockets they didn?t want to put into Cuba anyway.

So, throughout those two frantic weeks while everybody else was running around weeping, digging air-raid shelters, engaging in extermination-of-the-race sex or holding candlelit vigils, I ? 10 years old ? was strolling through the centre of Liverpool, whistling, grinning and giving everyone the thumbs-up sign.

Seven years later, when the Americans put a man on the moon, our family was so angry that they?d beaten the Russians that we didn?t even bother to watch the TV along with more or less the rest of the world, but instead ostentatiously went shopping.

I looked up my diary entry for November 9, 1989, the day the crossings in the Berlin Wall were opened: it says that I went for a walk to Edgware Road, caught the No 10 bus home, and went out for dinner in the evening at somebody?s house in Islington. There is no mention of the implosion of the economic and philosophical system that my parents fought for all their lives and which to a great extent formed my own view of the world. The foundations of our global outlook crashed along with the wall. But, though it is not mentioned in my diary, I do recall very clearly the emotion I felt on seeing those images of men with mullets hacking at the wall: I felt foolish.

By 1989 I was no longer any kind of communist, but as I watched the pictures from East Germany, I realised there was still a part of me that had hung onto the ridiculous idea that there was a kind of equilibrium between East and West: that for every good thing in capitalist society ? for instance, material wealth or free speech ? there existed an equal benefit in communist countries, such as a universal safety net or a greater sense of communal life.

It was only when news of the true state of affairs in Eastern Europe began to emerge ? the corruption, the constant snooping, the crime, the chaos and inefficiency, the endemic racism ? that I realised my hopes that somehow, as Gorbachev had planned, communism could be reformed and the best of the system preserved, were idiotic. There was no best.

I felt stupid and guilty watching the happy Ossis [East Germans] streaming through Checkpoint Charlie, because I realised that I?d fallen into the trap that so many on the left constantly fall into.

The good side of radicals, progressives, liberals is that they wish for a better, fairer world and they try to speak for those whose voices are trampled by governments and big business. The bad side of these positivist tendencies is that there is an inclination for us to turn a blind eye to the imperfections of any society or organisation that asserts that it?s fighting for the rights of the oppressed.

We want to think that we are on the side of goodness and justice, and can?t cope with the moral ambiguities that attend most human affairs. Thus we can find ourselves defending despots, terrifying terrorist groups and plain madmen because they said they were socialists or anti-imperialist or just poor, and we so wanted to believe them, simply because their struggle had begun with a justified impulse.

Yet, while realising that I had not been clear-sighted enough over the catastrophic Soviet experiment, I still did not want to make the journey that so many writers, entertainers and journalists have made, that journey from wild-eyed lefty to curmudgeonly old rightist.

So in middle age I continue to campaign for any number of doomed radical causes: justice for the Palestinian people, animal rights, an end to vivisection, prison reform. But the only way I can make amends for my previous myopia is to become obsessive in trying never to ignore the deficiencies of my own argument, to never glorify the people I am fighting for ? to not assume that just because they are oppressed they are intrinsically noble (why would they be?) ? and to keep in the back of my mind the idea that I could always be wrong.

All this makes me a highly ineffective campaigner. Those whose causes I support sigh when I turn up at a rally or press conference, and they would much rather have me on the other side, since I?m constantly saying confusing things and agreeing with my opponent. But I hope in the end it is more important to do that than to resort to bombast and sloganising, and when I falter I always keep at the front of my mind the Latin proverb corruptio optimi pessima ? the corruption of the best is the worst.

Source: Times Online (http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/the_way_we_live/article6210025.ece)