In the BBC TV adaptation of Kingsley Amis’ 1986 novel The Old Devils, John Stride gives a gleeful, roaring performance as Alun Weaver, a celebrity novelist and professional Welshman recently returned from London to his native clime. There’s a scene set at a book-signing for mostly effusive customers, to whom Weaver responds with a glance up from the table and some labored demurring: “No, no, you are too kind. This is mere hack work.”
And then an intense young man appears. “I’m a great fan,” he begins, “but I didn’t think this book quite captured the lyrical freshness of Mumbles Boy.”
There is the briefest of pauses, just time for a malicious smile from the novelist. “Why, thank you very much,” he replies. “And what on earth makes you think I’m interested in the opinion of young shags like you? Bugger off now, and a very good afternoon to you.”
That exchange doesn’t come from the original book. It comes, instead, from a real-life encounter the author of the TV screenplay, Andrew Davies, had some years earlier as a nerdy student at a book-signing by the real-life Kingsley Amis. I interviewed Davies around the time of the BBCadaptation, and he said he thought it was too good not to put in. Quite right, too. Kingsley Amis had chosen to reward the impertinent jackanapes by giving him a Kingsley Amis moment, and in turn, understanding its value, Davies chose to share it with
