Reply With QuoteHe was a figure of ridicule (24 Hour Party People) but I don't think too many genuinely disliked him. He and Peely did an awful lot for what is now a thriving indie scene.
He got a bad press, even though he obviously courted it, but I will always remember him as the face of my formative years of cinema appreciation, as he fronted What's On for Granada and reviewed the new releases in a way that appealed to me at that age
He was a figure of ridicule (24 Hour Party People) but I don't think too many genuinely disliked him. He and Peely did an awful lot for what is now a thriving indie scene.
I too remember him from the Granada days. Opinionated, rude, argumentative, very witty, but overall one of the good guys.
name='Joenoir']I too remember him from the Granada days. Opinionated, rude, argumentative, very witty, but overall one of the good guys.
Pretty much why I liked him.
I came across him a few times years ago on the Manchester music scene, a very self opinionated know all. Sorry to hear he has passed away.
In his last interview they showed on Newnight tonight he described himself pretty much the same way.
I don't know if anyone else is gets Nortwest regional tv, but if you do you may have seen him fronting the Politics Show for the region recently and will have seen how ill he looked towards the end.
Has anyone mentioned that he was only 57?
If you liked him or if you found him abrasive and opinionated, that's too young.
See the BBC Obit
Steve
Mrs Torq couldn't believe that's how old he was because he looked so much older towards the end. And I never really got the abrasive thing tbh, I think he was confident in his opinions, because he knew he was right, if some people find that abrasive I'm afraid I don't.
I grew up in Granadaland and Tony Wilson was a stock front-man on the early evening news programmes in my day. He was a great guy and was in that cheeky oddball mould of Ray Gosling. Years later I was baffled when people started talking about this wild man of the Manckie indie-pop scene and then I saw who they were talking about and thought, 'That's not Anthony Wilson the wild man of party-living, that's Tony Wilson who wears smart-but-caz suits and nice jumpers......name='Torquemada']I don't know if anyone else is gets Nortwest regional tv,
My personal debt to him though is that Tony used Springsteen's 'Born To Run' as the intro to a cinema review show he used to do (at least I think he did!) and my life was never quite the same again....
Rock On Tony..... whoever you were....
I remember the music very well and you are quite correct (as I said earlier I think the segment was called What's On?), it was very apt at the time (I can clearly recall scenes from Rollerball with that music over the top) and I used to really look forward to it every week. And Ray Gosling too (he used to frighten me when I was a kid) - is he still with us? Because I thought he'd died recently but when I tried to find out I couldn't see any mention of it - so sorry Ray if I'm writing you off too soon matey.
name='Steve Crook']Has anyone mentioned that he was only 57?
If you liked him or if you found him abrasive and opinionated, that's too young.
I quite agree, much too young. I'd also like to say that he was everything I and others have said about him, but I did like him. As Moor Larkin said, in the same league as Ray Gosling, who I've met and he is the same off screen as on, another good guy. As far as I know, Torq, he's still with us!
I saw Ray on a train about 5 years ago and I wanted to say hello, but he looked at me in that same firey way I remembered as a kid and I just thought - best not.
You should have plucked up the courage to speak to him, Torq, he's a really friendly guy. Very much for the underdog, and I guess his passion can come across as agression.
I used to see him in Waterstone's, Manchester on a number of occasions, and like torquemada, wanted to say hi and thank him for booking the Soft Machine to appear on his 70's programme So It Goes.
57 is way to young.
it is hard to put into word when someone like tony leaves us but he won't be forgotten.
fans of the bands in the manchester music scene will say thank you to tony for letting them have a chance to show him their talents!
but it is sad
but we will toast tony's lifeand remember if it wasn't for him we'd not have new order or Joy division.
Posting Permissions
