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The writing of British
best-selling author of eight humorous novels has been described as
“Laugh-out-loud-funny” and “irresistible and extremely funny – like
a weird mix of Charles Dickens and Kingsley Amis.” His novel, Summer
Things, became a bestseller in France and UG has just turned it into
a feature film with a “huge budget” and a “dream cast” that includes
Charlotte Rampling, and Charlotte Gainsbourg (daughter of Serge),
directed by Michel Blanc. This is the first film made from one of
Connolly’s books. James Leavey interviewed Joseph Connolly about a
year ago.
JL Where did you start smoking?
JC: At school.
I went to boarding school and there was this rule there that if you
were a prefect you could smoke a pipe in the evenings. Nothing
else, no cigarettes, no cigars. So I thought, ‘OK’ and became the
head of the library, which qualified as prefect status. I got my
first pipe, which was an Orlic, I remember, and I liked it quite a
lot. Then my uncle bought me a Dunhill and that really got me
hooked on the pipes. My first cigar was also at school. A friend
of mine had a terribly rich father who had a Bentley, and in the
front console there was a humidor. And as we were driving along he
said, ‘Oh, have a cigar” and I thought ‘Bloody hell!’ And I fully
expected – having read all the cliches – that when you light a cigar
you go green and you feel sick. But I thought it was wonderful.
JL: How old
where you?
JC: 17. Then in
the school holidays I thought, ‘Great! Cigars!’ Didn’t know a
thing about them, of course. And the only things I could afford
were Tom Thumbs and Picator and things, and they didn’t taste like
this one I’d had in the car, at all. So I stuck to pipes – this is a
very long answer! – and when I was a bookseller I smoked a pipe all
the time, mainly because it staved off the boredom. I’ve still got
a marvellous collection of Dunhills. And one day, after about 15-18
years, my daughter said to me ‘Er, oh I haven’t seen you smoking a
pipe, lately’. And it occurred to me that I hadn’t picked up a pipe
for three weeks. And so I sort of found that I’d stopped, for no
obvious reason. The only cigarettes I’ve ever had – I went through a
posey phase, when I left school - were Black Russian. But that’s
it.
JL:
Many second-hand bookshops allow smokers to browse their shelves,
but none of the new bookshops do. Why’s that?
JC: The whole
point about smoking and second-hand bookshops (Connolly once owned
the famous Flask Bookshop in Hampstead, north London) – I owned
mine, ran it, swept the floor, did everything – I thought they went
together, particularly pipes, actually. I had ashtrays all over the
place, never had an accident, never had a burnt book or anything
like that. The new bookshops are all shiny and brightly lit, and
maybe it doesn’t go so well.
JL:
You’ve written the standard work on collecting books, Modern First
Editions. Are writers who smoke more collectible than writers who
don’t?
JC: Yes. The
ones that smoked and drank constantly – that was their sort of
fuel. The pipe-smoking authors had the best author pictures, that
moody black and white picture. And of course they all had beards to
go with the pipe, that’s a common combination. Although,
interestingly, when I started writing fiction, by then I had long
given up pipe-smoking. So all my author pictures are naked barber
hair, if you see what I mean.
JL: When did you actually start writing novels?
JC: Very
recently. One of the first questions I got asked for the first novel
was ‘Why has this taken so long?’ which is a very good question. I
published my first non-fiction book in 1979 – the first novel was
1995, and S.O.S. Transylvania is number seven. So I’ve done quite a
lot, in the meantime. I think it was because when I had the shop –
which was completely a one-man show, I could never afford to employ
anyone. I was also doing non-fiction in the evening, and
journalism, which was too much. When I finally gave up the shop I
thought, ‘All right. No more excuses. Do what you’ve always wanted
to do.’ And that’s when I did my first novel.
JL: What do you smoke now?
JC: I smoke
only the occasional Havana cigar – I think Cohiba are overrated. I
really do, you know. I don’t understand them. I’ve still got some
Montecristo that I bought from a club owner, who was closing down,
about two years ago – I bought about a hundred No.1`s, and they’re
still lovely. When I used to do a lot of travel, when I was a
journalist proper, I used to buy cigars in Heathrow, on the way out,
because they were very very good then; hopeless now. The other best
place I always found for cigars is Geneva airport – it has a
marvellous walk-in humidor and the prices were unbelievable. What
you’d pay £250 for in London, was about £70. Absolutely marvellous.
JL: Do you smoke when you’re writing?
JC: I don’t
smoke when I’m writing, and I wouldn’t dare drink when I’m writing.
Afterwards is different. If I’m writing a novel in the summer, the
best thing at the end of the day – I write with a pen so I’m
physically exhausted at the end of a working day – is to get into
the garden, big glass of red wine and a cigar, and just watch the
smoke go up to the sky. Absolutely brilliant.
JL: Of all the
bookshops in all the world that you’ve ever visited, which bookshop
would you prefer to smoke in?
JC: Shakespeare
bookshop in Paris. But it’s so tiny and cramped that I think you
really could set the whole place alight. The books in it are
absolutely redolent with the absinthe drinkers and the whole romance
of the cigars, and all that.
JL:
This is Paris, where they officially banned smoking in the
restaurants years ago, a ban which the French smokers have
cheerfully ignored…
JC: I know. It
doesn’t work at all.
JL: They’re now
talking about banning smoking in London. You live in London, if
they banned smoking here tomorrow, what would you do?
JC: In the
streets, do you mean?
JL:
All public places, including restaurants and pubs.
JC: That would
be a terrible, terrible shame. The place I like to smoke cigars
when I’m not at home is probably the Groucho Club. And if they
banned smoking, I think they’d close down. So I would cling on to
them, and also they’ve got a pretty good selection of Havanas,
normally. So I would hope they would be the one exception.
JL:
Charlotte Rampling is starring in the first film made from one of
your novels (Summer Things). Does her character smoke?
JC: The
Elizabeth character doesn’t smoke but Rampling looks very sexy, with
her cigar. The funny thing about Charlotte Rampling is, apart from
The Night Porter, you’re a bit pushed to name any films she was in.
But everyone who had heard of this news (about her starring in the
film of Connolly’s novel) – and young men too, of about 30 – say
‘Charlotte Rampling! I would…!! Gosh, she’s so amazing!!!”. She is
so known, everyone thinks she’s the sexiest thing on Earth, and yet
she’s lived in France for 25 years and hasn’t made that many films.
I’m looking forward to visiting the set in September and if she
smokes I will tell you. I think everyone else will be smoking
through their ears, just from looking at her. |
