Looking for Pete
By Helen Griffiths In case you missed it, Stoke
Newington has been honoured recently with several visits from tabloid
favourite Pete Doherty.
Sadly, Barden’s Boudoir didn’t reopen with a secret
gig from the shambolic genius that is Babyshambles. Instead Doherty
was indulging in his other favourite pastime: getting arrested.
Due to some erratic behaviour and that familiar glazed look, Doherty
was arrested in Whitechapel and Hackney in December and had to report
to Stoke Newington Police Station. So, doing my best investigative
journalist trick, I thought I’d try to get a comment from
the troubled wordsmith – or from one his usually verbose friends
– for this most illustrious local publication.
And would you believe it, it was all to no avail? For a man so
fond of talking to journalists he was surprisingly tricky to track
down. I contemplated hiding under a blanket outside the police station
with a camera and a microphone but it was snowing and I felt a bit
daft at the prospect. However, I do have it on a reliable authority
from Pentonville that he eats Coco Pops for breakfast (ground-breaking
it may not be but it’s absolutely true) – I bet the
Guardian wish they’d got that exclusive from the prison diaries.
Still, maybe we’ll get him to come back for the fringe. I
think Babyshambles in the garden of the Auld Shelilagh sounds like
an excellent Sunday afternoon. |
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