Never a Normal Man: An Autobiography - Softcover

The highly praised and richly anecdotal autobiography of one of the great Soho characters of the 1950s and 1960s, whose varied life has included spells as a pioneering TV producer/reporter/personality, film-maker, photographer, writer, biographer, East End pub-owner, travel writer and art critic.

Christopher Silvester, Sunday Times: ‘However dizzying the effect of dipping into this cornucopia of experience, there is a satisfying spine to Farson’s book, namely his struggle to come to terms with his own character. The text is spiced with self-analytical aperçus... His capacity for observing celebrities and ribald gossip is matched by an exquisite lyricism when he turns to nature and ordinary folk... Sharp, funny, heart-warming, freighted with cheery self-optimism — it is everything an autobiography should be. It makes you want to give the author a hug.’

Harry Ritchie, Financial Times: ‘An extraordinary career, an intriguing and eventful life, and a well-written and enthralling book.’

Peter Lewis, Daily Mail: ‘He never fails to be intoxicatingly good company...insightful, funny, hugely enjoyable... How Chekhov would have loved him.’

George Melly, Daily Telegraph: ‘Brilliant evocations of the famous, the infamous and the obscure...a fine, courageous book.’

'Never a Normal Man' is the picaresque, candid and richly anecdotal autobiography of Daniel Farson, pioneering television reporter and interviewer, photographer, writer, biographer and art critic, not to mention a legendary bohemian, pub-owner and exotic traveller.

Discovering, in the 1950s, the joys of alcohol and homosexuality, he found a spiritual home in Soho, where his friends included Francis Bacon (whose biography he later wrote), Caitlin Thomas, John Deakin and many others. After a period in the Merchant Navy he was employed by the fledgling ITV, and soon found himself a nationally famous television personality. He later developed an ‘entertainment’ pub on the Isle of Dogs, wrote books on Jack the Ripper and his own great-uncle Bram Stoker, and eventually moved to Devon.

“An extraordinary career, an intriguing and eventful life, and a well-written and enthralling book.”
HARRY RITCHIE, 'Financial Times'

“He never fails to be intoxicatingly good company ... insightful, funny, hugely enjoyable. How Chekhov would have loved him.”
PETER LEWIS, 'Daily Mail'

“There are brilliant evocations of the famous, the infamous and the obscure, everything from thumbnail sketches to full-length portraits...a fine, courageous book.”
GEORGE MELLY, 'Daily Telegraph'

“Likely to become the classic chronicle of post-war bohemian life.”
PENNY WARK, 'Sunday Times'