Garry Bushell
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Garry Bushell (born May 13, 1955 in South East London) is an English television critic, television presenter, and newspaper columnist.
He wrote for The Sun until his 2001 sacking resulting from a serious disagreement. Bushell then joined The People, continuing to write a television column. In late 2006, it was announced that he is leaving this post to work on screenplays based on his novels. He also runs his own business.
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[edit] Early career
Son of a fireman, Bushell attended Charlton Manor school and after leaving Colfe's grammar school, worked for Shell as a messager, and then the London Fire Brigade before attending the North East London Polytechnic and the London College of Printing. He was an enthusiastic amateur boxer (see Stick It Up Your Punter) and is a life-long fan of Charlton Athletic Football Club.
Bushell was a working musician before becoming a full-time journalist. He first played at secondary school in Pink Tent, which was heavily influenced by Monty Python. They wrote songs and comedy sketches, performing at parties and at each other's houses.
Bushell was involved in The National Union of School Students and The Schools Action Union, a socialist organisation that had a strong situationist streak which allowed them to mix schoolboy hijinks with student activism. Bushell was regularly confronted by members of the British Movement, who called him a communist. He was attacked and hospitalized by these neo-Nazis in 1981. The National Front magazine Bulldog denounced him as "a race traitor" and published his home address. Ironically, some leftists called him a fascist later on.
Pink Tent evolved into The Gonads, a British punk rock and Oi! band that continues to perform today. Many of their songs were comical party tunes, but they occasionally did more serious material. Two examples of their more serious songs are "Dying for a Pint" (which tackled nightclub bouncer brutality) and "Jobs Not Jails". One of their humorous songs was "I Lost My Love To A UK Sub", about rival punk rock band UK Subs, playing on Charlie Harper's supposedly huge libido. They also did rock versions of old music hall numbers such as Gus Elen's "Half A Pint Of Ale."
Other Bushell musical projects included Prole, Orgasm Guerrillas, and Lord Waistrel & The Cosh Boys. He also managed The Blood and Cockney Rejects, getting them their EMI deal. He also discovered Twisted Sister and got them signed up in the UK by Secret Records.
[edit] Journalism
Bushell began his journalism career in the mid-1970s. At 18, he became an active member of the International Socialists, writing for the left wing newspaper Socialist Worker, Temporary Hoarding, Rebel, and his own punk fanzine. From 1978 to 1985, he wrote for Sounds, covering the punk rock genre. He was one of the few rock journalists at the time writing about other street movements, such as 2 Tone, the new wave of British heavy metal and the Mod Revival. In 1984, he wrote the Iron Maiden's biography Running Free.
Bushell was key in promoting the Oi! music genre, also known as "real punk" or streetpunk. Oi! was surrounded by controversy because of an alleged link to racism and the far right. However, the leading Oi! bands rejected racism and far-right politics, as did Bushell. They were much more concerned with pro-working class issues, even promoting socialist ideas.
Bushell moved to Fleet Street in 1985, working for The Sun, The Evening Standard and The Daily Mirror. He was coaxed back to the Sun to write its "Bizarre" column as the show business editor. He was also assistant editor of The Daily Star.
In the mid-1990s, he hosted a programme called Bushell On The Box (same title as his Sun column, 1987-2001), analysing and criticising the week's TV programs. A regular feature of the column was "Garry's Goofs", in which he highlighted an unintended double entendre. In 2002, he published King of Telly: The Best of Bushell on the Box, containing highlights of his column.
In 2001 Bushell moved to The People newspaper after his sacking by The Sun for giving the serialisation rights to his crime novel The Face to the rival tabloid The Daily Star. The then Sun editor David Yelland had decided that it was "too filthy" to be promoted in The Sun). On November 14 2006, it was announced that he Bushell is leaving The People shortly in order to work on screenplays based on his two novels.[1]
His journalistic style is often compared to that of Richard Littlejohn. Both are illiberal, and have been described as homophobic and bigoted, although both would reject those labels.[citation needed] Gay TV star Dale Winton is godfather of Jenna, one of Bushell's daughters.[1] Bushell's columns are notable for metaphors that can be described as politically incorrect (such as describing something as being "as fair as Frank Bruno's arse" or (in his May 1, 2005 column) "Today's TV is so obsessively gay, it's a wonder the Radio Times doesn't come with a pink Versace wrap and a free glass of Muscadet".) He once remarked that the Green Party would "go from green to red faster than a frog in a blender" (quoted Stick It Up Your Punter).
His humour is known to have upset some Sun executives such as Rebekah Wade, but fans include Howard Stern, Dom Joly and the comedian Roy Hudd, who has called him "the Max Miller of the press." In 1994 Bushell was commended as critic of the year at the UK Press Awards. In 2000, Comic Heritage (now the Heritage Foundation) gave him an award for 'Services To Comedy.'
[edit] Politics
Although he started out as a socialist, Bushell's main political focus today is patriotism and individual liberty. In particular, he sees his identity as English rather than British. He has campaigned have St George's Day recognised as a public holiday in England, in the same way St Patrick's Day is a holiday in the Republic of Ireland. He is a vocal opponent of the European Union. Amongst many musical and entertainment heroes listed on his myspace page are George Orwell and Percy Bysshe Shelley.
In the 2005 General Election, he stood as a candidate for the English Democrats Party, who promote the establishment of an English Parliament, and want England to leave the European Union. Bushell got 1216 votes (3.4% share) in the Greenwich and Woolwich constituency, finishing fifth out of seven in a race won by Nick Raynsford of Labour.
The result represented the high point for the party in the election, as Bushell finished ahead of the UK Independence Party candidate in that constituency. But in November 2006, a poll of Sun readers found that 81% supported English independence. Bushell also represented the party in the South Staffordshire constituency, where the general election ballot was held on June 23, 2005 following the death of the Liberal Democrat candidate after nominations had closed. In that poll, Bushell managed 643 votes (2.51%). His campaign was supported by the Campaign for an English Parliament and Veritas.
[edit] Family
Bushell has five children: three Julie, Danny, and Robert with Carol Bushell, and two, Jenna and Ciara, with Tania Ashbee.
In November 2006, Bushell appeared on the Channel 4 programme 100% English and offered a sample of his DNA for testing. The results suggested that he was 8% Sub-Saharan African, most probably the result of a single mating within the previous five generations.[2]
Bushell took the news with good humour and later wrote on his website "I’d be delighted if it were true." He also questioned the science and the motivation of the programme makers, however, concluding:
- Only Nazis, and it appears C4, think of national identity in terms of racial purity. Besides, you could apply the same tests to the French or Italians and get similar results, but no-one questions their right to nationhood.
[edit] References
- ^ The Independent (Deborah Ross) For Garry, England and St George: Interview - Garry Bushell 25 June 2001
- ^ The Herald (David Belcher) A rare breed – and pure annoying with it 14 November 2006
