Contributors and Letters

Thanks to all the contributors who have helped me embellish this page. Especially honourable mentions go to the following:

J D Taylor (information about Lift Off!, political persuasion, various videos, TV programmes and the Real Lives episode titles).

Sinead Larkin (for info about Blackadder and Clive James)

Marcus Neil, who sent the following missive:

I have been to your Jeremy Hardy site. You say there that he does not have internet access. Perhaps you have been lied to but I am confident that this is a glaring error. I have evidence from his Guardian column from Saturday 22nd May 1999 that he does indeed have internet access. In that column he says the following:
“But, the words indeed exist, unless an Internet wag is playing tricks on us, which is possible given that no sane or responsible person could have written the accords. However, having scrolled through it and not stumbled upon a picture of Madeleine Albright's head on Pamela Anderson's body, I've concluded it's not a prank.”

How much evidence do you need? I recommend you amend the site as soon as possible. This is a mystery I am sure you will want to get to the bottom of with some urgency. Vigilant and truthful,

Marcus

Pippa Sutton for her input about cats and University, and some quotes.

Roger Jefferson for everything.

and Tom Dalziel for some well-deserved praise:

Hi Steve
I'm normally too indolent a soul to drop emails to Webmasters, but your Jeremy Hardy site—like the man himself—deserves recognition. It was a delight to find that someone else not only appreciates the floppy-fringed genius but has gone to the effort of producing an excellent Web site to promote him. I’m in the throes of creating a comedy Web site in which I want to give a platform for some other criminally ignored talents (Bill Hicks, Sean Lock, Ross Noble, etc.) Anyway, your site has given me a bit of inspiration and a much-needed kick up the backside to get my site up and running.

So thanks!

Tom

More of the above, please. ;-)

Well… I’m a big fan of ‘Jezza’ on the wireless, and I am sympathetic to his politics. I am one of the foolish many who gathered on the streets of London this year in the expectation of a decent demonstration. The ridiculous intervention of the police into a peaceful protest is a national scandal, but that is not the point.
At the last 'gig' (as you young folk have it) of his I saw, he encouraged those of us who still believe in socialism to demonstrate as the anarchists who are (I believe) I quote "just doing it". This is not the point either, but he was still right.

My point is quite simple, and probably long over-due. Jeremy Hardy is not as funny in print as he is as a speaker. Having read and enjoyed his column many times, I would even be prepared to say that his politically directed monologues aren't very funny at all. They are serious, creative, thought provoking and important at times, but they aren't that funny. Don't knock the Guardian for cutting someone who didn't make their readers laugh.

Just knock the Guardian for being a shit paper.

D C Onions

And in response:

Just a note about the contribution from D.C. Onions. He’s generally a fairly nice sort of bloke, but is unfortunately posessed by the spirit of irritating opinions. The Guardian column was funny, maybe not as funny as the stand up stuff, but certainly funnier than anything else in the paper. The reason for taking the column from the paper was that Jeremy Hardy's politics didn't fit in with The Guardian's. And to be fair other than Pravda or an SWP pamphlet ther are few publications with a political agenda attuned to Jeremy Hardy's. It'd have been loads better if the Guardian had just said, “Look, we fired Hardy as he's not nearly Blairite enough for us in the run up to an election.” Instead they said, “Oh, the thing is after several years of having Jeremy Hardy here we suddenly noticed that he isn't funny. Tut, foolish of us really. Still, never mind we've sorted it out now and sacked him.” The whole thing is annoying because The Guardian are big liars. Which is to say the only left wing broadsheet in the country is duplicitous, hypocritical and right wing. Oh, I knew Dan Onions at Uni that's how I know it's his real name [I was in a little doubt before. SD]. Lots of love

Jonathan Mantle

[As an aside, Mark Steel, in his book Reasons to be Cheerful, makes reference to the Guardian ‘realigning with Blair’, which presumably is why he now writes for the Independent.]

Of course, if you ask someone for a table and they sell you a hamster, you ask for your money back. The Guardian’s thinking on Jeremy’s column is quite strange; it was meant to be funny, but wasn’t, so it’s got to go, even though it was one of the best columns to be published. As Mark Steel says in his critique of The Guardian (in the archives for the mailing list (join it to get access)), they are quite willing to publish columns by overt non-comedians Roy Hattersley and Polly Toynbee.

And another pleasant email arrived, from Teresa Lipson (2001-05-25):

If he doesnt know about your page I think Jeremy will be very amused (as was I) with a few sharp words to say [*gulp* SD.]. As a former neighbour in Streatham and having a daughter who was his (or rather, Jeremy's daughter’s) favourite baby sitter for a couple of years (till my daughter went to university) I don’t intend to give away any intrusive details [unlike the Blairs’ babysitter, then. SD.] but only to say that he is a person of absolute sincerity and that what you see is what you get. Unlike so many political commentators he puts his money where his mouth is—it is in the public domain that he mortgaged his house as bail for Berndette McAllister. Jeremy is a generous and genuine person who has been extremely kind to my daughter and a great educator of her politically. Again, it is in the public domain that he has just made a film with Mike Figgis—don’t know when it is coming out but there is an interactive website whose address I forget. Hope this is interesting to you. If you havent seen him live go and do so when you have a chance and join him in the pub afterwards! He is that kind of person.

Spanners in the Works

mks from Ulster University writes:

On the news quiz the other day, Alan Coren referred to JH as a “scientist”. You have history as his college education. What's the story here?

Chris Daly writes:

Great site! [Good start. SD.] Just a word on Alan Coren referring to JH as a 'scientist'. I think that was a bit of an in-joke. On recentish shows of the News Quiz [January 2001], JH has launched in convoluted mock-scientific explanations of things. Andy Hamilton ribbed him about it, and now the reputation's stuck!

Now let us never mention this topic again.

I've even got a comment of my own:

In December 2002, I attended a charity event for CND Legal Fund, to take the Government to court over the proposed war against Iraq. [That didn’t do much good.] Jeremy was the host there, and was not only very funny, but dealt fantastically with some audience participation from an ex-Israeli and an anti-ex-Israeli. One of his lines was “You take a bullet for it and then tell me about it.” It was electric.