Shelf Healing Interview with Gyles Brandreth. Transcribed by Luke Montgomery. Rebecca: (00:13) Before we start officially. if you could say your first and last name to make sure I pronounce it right and give your pronouns as well. That would be great. Gyles Brandreth: (00:22) Well, you can call me anything you like. I'm totally relaxed about pronouns, but my name is Gyles Brandreth. It's a ridiculous name, really, but we won’t go into that. I'm lumbered with it. It's not easy, it's not easy on. I made life worse for my children. I have three children. They're called Benet, Saethryd and Aphra. Rebecca: (00:43) Beautiful. Gyles Brandreth: (00:45) They're lovely names. Aphra is a particularly interesting name in terms of bibliotherapy, because she's named after Aphra Behn, who was a distinguished writer, playwright, novelist, probably the first woman to earn her living as an author in this country. But Saethryd, to be called Saethryd Brandreth Rebecca: (01:04) It’s a good name. Gyles Brandreth: (01:05) Particularly when you’ve got a speech impediment is really quite challenging. She doesn't have a speech impediment, though you might think she does with that ridiculous name, but she's got used to it. She's every day of her life. She has to spell her name, it’s a curious thing. Anyway, it's lovely to be with you, Rebecca taking part in bibliotherapy. Rebecca: (01:27) Hello and welcome to Shelf Healing, UCL’s bibliotherapy podcast. I'm your host, Rebecca Markwick. Our guest today is Gyles Brandreth. Gyles is a writer, broadcaster, actor and former MP. Gyles has written books across age and genre, fiction, and nonfiction. He is chancellor of the University of Chester, is a frequent guest on just a minute and is a co-host of the award-winning lexicological podcast “Something Rhymes with Purple”. Gyles is a well-known lover of words and poetry, having delighted us all with readings of poems regularly throughout lockdown. First question to get us started is nice and easy. Do you feel that reading is therapeutic? Gyles Brandreth: (02:09) Yes, it's therapeutic. It's essential. It's fundamental. I read in some way, shape or form all the time everyday. In fact, I never stop reading. I'm one of those people who, you know in the bathroom is reading the side of the shampoo. I'm reading what it says on the back of the toothpaste tube. I have to be reading at all times. Always, I'm always- if there's nothing to be read at breakfast, I find the cornflakes packet and read the back of that. Reading is- I've always loved reading. I was very lucky in that, as a little boy my parents- I come from a family where there were lots of books in the home. Books were fundamental to us and not only reading but reading out loud. My parents read a lot to me out loud. You know, the famous poem by Philip Larkin. I do a version off it, which begins: “they tuck you up, your mom and dad” because that's what my mom and dad did for me. They took me up in bed on they read me stories. They fed my love of words from a very, very early age. And my mother was a pioneer in teaching people who have dyslexia and this is, way, years ago. I mean, more than half a century ago, the 1950s, when dyslexia really was barely heard off. She worked with small children on their reading difficulties and was brilliant. She was a genius teacher, and they really believed in the power of language. I mean, language is power. It's come home to me this year how much that is true because we haven't been able to hug, you know, we have been able to shake hands haven't often have been able to just smile at one another in person. How can we communicate? It has to be through words, Bertrand Russell said famously: “no matter how eloquently a dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his parents were poor, but honest. Only words could do that.” So, language is what defines us. What makes us unique. What differentiates us from the animals. And I don't believe there has yet been a better way off communicating than through the printed word. I love a book on and I can’t go to- I never go to bed without reading. And I, during lockdown, got fed up with reading the newspapers because, you know, we cope with so much bad news. Didn't worry about politics there being a politician that didn't interest me. Didn’t want to read about yet more lockdown audacity I as I began reading books at meals. So, I do read books at meals. If I'm eating alone, I've always got a book with me. I have a book everywhere. I'm not very good at doing two things at once, being male and therefore, I can't really sustain more than one book at a time and I'm a very slow reader and I'm a finisher. I complete a book, a completist and it takes me about two minutes the page. So it's really annoying if I start on something that isn't terribly new because I feel obliged to go to the end of it. So I've been reading a vast amount this year. I've been reading a lot of nonfiction. I'm currently reading Rupert Everett's latest book about him making his film about Oscar Wilde. I’m the president of the Oscar Wilde society, I’m a bit of an Oscar Wilde groupie. I know you only asked a simple question. You don't expect me to talk for about three quarters of an hour, but that's because we're meeting at the end of the day, so all the words of tumbling out because I've been writing a book today. I won't come on to them. So forgive me for answering so- such a length Rebecca, but the answer is yes. And I tell you, yes, reading is fundamental. It is a therapy. It's a stimulus and a therapy. That's what's odd about it. Reading can excite you, can move you, could amuse you, can annoy you, can frustrate you. But also it is, it is a therapy. It's a way off- it's an important thing, actually. Say something important here. Years ago I had a very fascinating time with a great psychiatrist called Professor Anthony Clare who for people of a certain generation, was famous in this country because he did a radio program called ‘In the Psychiatrist’s Chair’ and he's no longer alive, but he was a wonderful man. And he and I worked on a book together, which I published called ‘The 7 Secrets of Happiness’. We talked about happiness, but one of the rules of being happy was to break the mirror, to stop thinking about yourself. And those seven rules, we’re to obey all of them toe to find happiness. And what he meant- he didn't mean ecstasy, he didn’t mean a high. He meant that sense of well being, that sense of balance. And he said, break the mirror, stop thinking about yourself. Certainly don't talk about yourself, and the great thing about reading is it can take you out of yourself. You could open a book and you go into another world. Whatever the book may be. So, that is a therapeutic element. There's therapy too, I think, in letting the eyes go across the page. I often read a book later tonight after I've forgotten in the morning what I read and I have to go back. You know, particularly if it's a murder mystery, you’ve got to go back five pages to find out in case you missed something. But I don't mind that it's like poetry. I often read poetry. I have no idea what the words mean. The idea what the poem means. But I love that, and in fact, I was very reassured- used to feel guilty about it- and then I read the T S. Eliot. The Great T S. Eliot- that he said, don't worry, you know, it's- it's like music, words are like music. You don't go to a concert and actually follow all the themes and you may not know anything about music. May be able to read the dots when it's going up on it. Just somehow works for you. We'll poetry can be like that. So I think reading the words is therapeutic. The content can be therapeutic. The act of reading is therapeutic, And I have at the bedside, always, several- have lots of books always at the bedside have little trough of books that are always there. They include an anthology of poetry, we’ll come to in a minute. They also include dictionaries of quotations because, you know, deep down I'm shallow and I like a nugget and I think a little quotation is great fun. I love a fun quotation. You know, too much of a good thing is wonderful, said Mae West. I like to fall asleep with a little bit of Mae West or a bit of Dorothy Parker, just a bit of wit.