Is the Bob McCabe biography on Graham Chapman (that being the book “The Life of Graham”) really THAT bad?
I humbly ask as I myself have the book but haven’t read it yet , (For context, I got that book + some of the other books related to Gray (except the Yellowbeard one which I AM planning to get soon) last year for Christmas as I just LOVE any content related to my boy Gray <33, and whilst I was kinda aware of the book’s….uhh…..*tut*…..mixed reception to put it lightly, I eventually decided to get the book just to see/read it and form my own opinions/thoughts on it, even if some of the aspects of the book were apparently kinda problematic, if ya’know what I mean? To paraphrase-ingly quote that line from “Life of Brian” (1979), “we’re all individuals, and we got to think for ourselves”.) , and I just wanted to know your personal opinions on the book itself!
Hope that isn’t an issue or anything, I just wanted to know your thoughts on the book as a fellow Gray Chapman fan, that’s all :))👍 !!
TW: 18+, alleged p*dophilia/inc*st
One thing I’ve learnt about Graham is that we should all make our own decisions about matters which should be separate from what society wants us to think; in short, he was a fierce advocate of critical thinking and maintaining our own individuality in a world that pressures us to conform.
It is for this reason that I decided to read the biography even though I knew I wouldn’t agree with its contents.
After reading the first chapter, I found that I couldn’t go on. The first chapter was mostly retold by Graham’s brother, whose tone resembled that of a person claiming that he was the inspiration behind every thought and idea that came across Graham’s head. These are the passages which made me think his brother’s quotes had some tone of jealousy involved:
As I read further, the chapter about Graham’s fatherhood made me want to burn the book (the book was on Internet Archive though, so that was impossible, but I fervently disagree with book burning, so that should tell you how infuriated I was). Even Bernard McKenna had made it seem that Graham’s relationship with his son was predatory, p*dophilic, and inc*stuous, which infuriates me because I have a newspaper clipping from the 1990s where John said he knew what rumors existed about him and Graham but that they had homophobic origins and that Graham was merely a father to him. So for this book to publish this lie after both Graham and John’s deaths is like they’re bypassing them and just saying whatever. What infuriates me even more is how David Sherlock let this be published, but deep down, I know this is not my battle to fight and I never got the impression that Graham was the type of person to hold grudges against people. I used to fight against the rumors a lot on twitter but this is not my battle, and I just had to remind myself of the Persian saying, “He who doesn’t know but doesn’t know that he doesn’t know will be eternally lost in his hopeless oblivion.” This is McKenna’s passage (which clearly indicates David’s knowledge of what was said), and afterwards is the newspaper clipping (I’m guessing it’s from The Sun but Graham had done an interview before with Mike Housego, the journalist involved in this interview below) from John after Graham’s death which shows the family dynamic after Graham died and what John and Graham’s relationship was like:
My overall conclusion from the book is that it is mostly from word of mouth of people who all had emotionally charged things to say about Graham based on their own prejudices and attitudes towards Graham. It is not something one should read if they want something accurate. It is only helpful in learning how his surroundings thought of him, and it is quite sad, in that light.
It is a biography, but it has no right being an authorized one, and it infuriates me that David Sherlock allowed it to be as such. He has no right to be a keeper of Graham’s legacy because of this book, if you ask me (Graham might forgiven and forgotten David’s actions if he were alive, but, although I can forgive, I can never forget…clearly 🥲).
I will say though that Graham would’ve wanted you to read the book and form your own thoughts on it. But if you are like me and the book ends up only infuriating you, remember that you don’t have to finish it.
(I won’t put Graham’s hashtag here because I don’t want this content to be in a place which should be filled with silly things, as he would’ve wanted)
