I have every sympathy with John Harris having to read half a yard of celebrity memoir (How bestsellers lost the plot, G2, 13 December), but he's wrong to include Simon Pegg's Nerd Do Well among the "infantile", "slipshod" works. You can't say these books are published only because the authors are famous and then criticise this author for writing about his real childhood instead of parading his film fame. I've just ordered a copy for my godson, a new teacher, because it tosses into the black hole of the genre an excellent record of how teachers can influence, inspire and amuse the young; a convincing and detailed story of a Gloucestershire childhood; and lots of laughs. I've read "literary" accounts of growing up that are less perceptive, a lot less amusing and no better written.
And the study of his old school tutor and English teacher ? pages 34, 82, 175, 176 and 181 ? is a classic of its kind.
Gareth Calway
(Simon Pegg's old school tutor and English teacher), Sedgeford, Norfolk
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/dec/15/celebrity-memoir-john-harris-simon-pegg
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