Who Is Gary Glitter?

The above question was asked to me the other day by a twenty something year old.

Of course, people of a certain age know that the paedophile Paul Gadd was once one of the biggest music stars in Britain. Under the stage name of Gary Glitter, he topped the charts quite often in the early to mid seventies. With his band, 'The Glitter Band' (it must have taken them ages to come up with that name) they gyrated their way to the top of the charts dressed in kitchen foil. This was to become known as 'Glam Rock'. I had forgotten about his songs many years ago, only remembering the song, 'I'm The Leader Of The Gang' - this could have course been ironically called 'Do You Want To Touch?' All his songs sounded very similar. He is now locked away, so no one except a very large and hairy cellmate will be touching him anywhere, for quite a while.

The reason I mention this is because I thought everyone knew about Gary Glitter being a pop star. But this is not the case. I asked my questioner if he knew who Noddy Holder was, to which I received a negative response. I asked if he knew the song, 'So Here It Is, Merry Christmas'. He did: I don't think anyone on earth doesn't know this song. I'm sure it will be regarded as a hymn in the future. The thing is that fame is very fleeting, but some things last forever. Although people might not remember Slade, they will remember that song. Glitter, hopefully, will be forgotten in time.

There are lots of people who have written things, sung things, and appeared in things that will be remembered for years, but they themselves are not remembered. Hardly anyone knows the authors of some of the classic novels. Who wrote 'Tarzan'? What about, 'Black Beauty'? Then there's the classic, 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!' Look them up, the first two were one-hit wonders I think (I don't know of any other books by them) but the third was a very prolific and successful author of a very cool character who was never 'shaken' or stirred' by anything.

There's an advert on the TV at the moment which features the song, 'Let There be Love' My son loves this song and has asked me who it is on many occasions. People of a certain age will find it hard to believe that this singer is not still widely known. There have been many one hit wonders that are remembered today, but not the people that sung them. 'Sugar, Sugar'and 'Oops Upside Your Head!' are just a few songs that people will instantly recognise, but not know who sung them.

Then we have films, What about 'The Wizard of Oz'? I'll start you off: Judy Garland played Dorothy. Now name the people who played the other lead roles. Unless you are an ardent fan, you wouldn't have a clue, even though this film is shown over and over on TV.

I myself suffer from this strange phenomenon. Most young people up to the age of thirty will have seen the book, 'The Spot On My Bum'. They may call it 'the yellow book', as the cover of the book is a bright yellow. Some even say it's that book of rude poems, but they never seem to know that I wrote the book. I have to admit it is not something that has caused me any concern; at least they know the book, and that is the most important thing.

But a statistic I read recently really caused me concern. I found it very hard to believe. 40% of 14 and 15 year old in recent exams in Britain didn't know who Adolf Hitler was! This cannot be true, surely? There is something wrong with the education system if you can reach the age of 15 and not know who the man who was responsible for the deaths of millions was. But having said this, my wife pointed out to me that I'm the first to disagree with the world war memorials that we are forced to endure. I know that millions died for our freedom. The first world war was a political one though, and is a lot harder to commemorate for me. I know that the second world war was also political, but the ideologies of Hitler and his cronies had to be destroyed. Had they not been, I doubt that I would be writing and you would be reading this blog. But for lots of young people this is ancient history and has no relevance to them. This is how history manages to repeat itself! We don't need people laying flowers down for people long dead, we need education for young people who are alive and capable of making the same mistakes of the past.