Bleak: A memoir of mishap, mistake, misadventure

Roddy Murray has something to say. About a life full of mishaps, varied and various. Brushes with death he’d like to recount, truths and untruths he’d like to get off his chest. He’s no celebrity, but he has stories to tell. So this is a memoir… of sorts. Of primary school corporal punishment, appalling seasickness and hung-over teenage days in the docks on the Isle of Lewis. Of being a Bastard from Hell punk and a Dreamboy with Peter Capaldi and Craig Ferguson at Glasgow School of Art. Of illegal firearms, vans with vendettas, attempted sexual liaisons, dodgy boats and a spectacularly good potato peeler. A mosaic of vignettes and minor personal fables that offer a glimpse of one man’s past, even of all our pasts. Sardonic, self- deprecating, sagacious and sometimes just a little bit sad. Roddy Murray is the embodiment of an essential human survival skill: our ability to laugh in the face of adversity, or even just embarrassment.