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by sam rhodes
Beginning journalism in the 60’s to screenwriting in the 70’s, 83-year-old Ray Connolly’s career is still ongoing working on revamping his old novel Sunday Morning
With interviews with Dusty Springfield, Elvis and The Beatles – his journalism library is must-read.
Yet, one of his more recent projects was a 2021 Radio 4 show focusing on his story with Covid struggles and near-death experience.
“I was meant to die.
“They told my wife that we’re not going to resuscitate and she was told three or four times, and so that was expected, and then I didn’t.
“I have no memory of being seriously ill. I didn’t know, I don’t remember going to the hospital.
“People were praying for me, I thought, why?”
His wife was unable to see him for the first two months as he was in intensive care, he later heard that in one night there five people had died.
When hearing the radio story of his time with Covid he said: “I got upset. I was crying.
“My wife kept every email she sent out, that was her way of communicating with our children – Daddy was a bit better today, he opened his eyes, or whatever and some are really chilling things like reading I was the illest person in the hospital and she’d been told he won’t be coming home.
Beginning his career at the London School of Economics studying social anthropology, his first job in journalism was the Liverpool Daily Post as “nobody wanted me”
He realised despite editing the LSE magazine he had no options and needed help knowing where to turn.
“ITN turned me down and I remember going in to see the guy who was in charge, and he said do you think you are cut out for the 10 o’clock news?
“I’d do anything and the Liverpool Daily Post took me as a graduate trainee, if you succeed, it’s great and for them, it’s inexpensive labour, and if you fail, they just kick you out so at age 21 you know that if you are a failure you can be kicked out, it’s very good.
“So if you ever get thrown in the deep end, remember, this is your big moment and don’t f*** it up.”
For producing a full page, Ray would be paid five pounds extra on top of his wages and he would send his work to the Evening Standard where he met Charles Wintour, the editor, who he believes without him he wouldn’t have had the career he did.
For Wintour, taking on Ray was a huge gamble as a stammering 25-year-old with no prospects but after six months he had his own page.
It was at this point in his career he went on to meet the Beatles and he said: “It was terrifying to meet the Beatles then because everyone in the world knew them apart from me.
“I was told to follow the Magical Mystery Tour in my little car and I didn’t know what to do.
“There were people from the Daily Mirror and the Express, they all knew each other and I didn’t know anybody sitting there and they’re all mixing and laughing.
“Suddenly someone sat next to me, Paul McCartney, and I thought, what are you going to say?
“I know your dad.
“That was it – then I think I did a big piece on Ringo shortly after which was a great interview because Ringo was just an interesting person.”
When interviewing, Ray never had questions in mind, just a vague idea of what he wanted to talk about.
However, in his mind, he became his “own worst enemy” as Ray believed he protected the Beatles “from themselves”.
“Often people will tell you things and they may regret it later on and I’d always have a little thing in my head saying do they really want to say this, I’d make sure they wanted to say it, rather than just print it.
“Maybe if I’d been on The Sun I’d have printed it straight away but I suppose I was a bit soft.
“The famous one was when John left the Beatles – I was asked not to write it so I didn’t because we were mates and you thought it would be breaking a friendship.
“People thought I was insane not to write it and when I told John when he asked why I hadn’t written it that it was because he told me not to he said well, you’re the fucking journalist, which is true.”
Ray admits he got too close to his contacts, something he advises journalists not to do.
He believes while his reporting skills were lacking, he was a good interviewer not because of the provocative questions he would ask but because he and his interviewee would talk and hang around forever, going into people’s homes and sitting down with a cuppa.
One of Ray’s biggest scoops was when Dusty Springfield came out to him as he explained: “I never met her, but I was a big fan of Dusty and she suddenly came out about liking other women.
“She said, go on, ask me that. Come on, you’ve heard the rumours, you must have heard.”
“I said, well, they say that you like girls too and she said then went into it and just came out with it but she wanted it out so I gave it to the Evening Standard, the features who were surprised saying oh, my God, she’s the nation’s favourite, you can’t say that dusty likes girls.
“We had to hide it in the middle of the piece, the headline was dusty at 30, an anodyne thing and the next day I was away, and she rang my home, and she told my wife, tell him that was fine, so I hadn’t upset her. I said exactly what she told me.”
When doing high-profile interviews, some of the stars only wanted to talk about Elvis.
Described by Ray as like “the moon” many big names he interviewed were quick to ask about the King of Pop.
When talking to Bob Dylan’s manager in America he explained how Bob would have no time for interviews when in England but he could do one on the phone right now and despite having no questions in his head the interview went ahead.
“I said I’d just been to see Elvis and he said, really? He goes into all these questions about what did Elvis so we talked about Elvis and he interviewed me about Elvis.
“Elvis had all the gifts, apart from common sense.
“A week later. I’m back in England, and I spoke to John Lennon about something else and he had the same question about what he did – it was like I’d been to see Henry the Eighth, he was just that big.”
Becoming close friends with producer David Putnam, he taught Ray to write screenplays as he explains some directors don’t like when people write too much but you need to be able to picture the scenes in your head and hear the words.
Yet, Ray admits for pure satisfaction novels were the favourite part of his career yet when you finish it it is “the worst thing in the world”.
“These people (characters) who’ve been your best friends for the years it takes to write a novel, suddenly they’ve gone and you’ve nothing to do, and all your friends have gone because you’ve lived their lives completely, just completely,
“There’s one called Sunday Morning, which I’m really proud of.
Believing structurally there were mistakes in the first publication he did admit when he read it again he was “very surprised at how much I liked it. But then you realise how close you got to the characters, and how when, when you finish, you are bereft a bit because they’ve left you.”
pictures by ash hussain
