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From: uberman_21
Date: Mon Mar 10, 2003 2:44am
Subject: Re: Sunday Telegraph 9/03/03 Can this man read minds? - Complete Version
Almost complete version. This is the remainder picking up from the
sentence the previous post left off...
"I'm not particularly dark you know," he says at one point. I am not
so sure about this. Behind Brown's carefully erected 'winning
manner', there's something eerily detached about him. But then he
does lead a strange life: both seeing through people and bending
them to his will. That must be pretty isolating. It also hints at a
wish - or compulsion - to make others do his bidding.
When i ask Brown if he is a very controlling person, he bends and
writhes his neck and steeples his fingers. "I like things around me
to be just how i like them. That doesn't, i hope, extend to making
people behave in a certain way. Not when i'm not performing anyway.
It's more about having my own little corner."
"On the other hand, last night I went to the theatre - alone - and
there was someone behind me who was having a banal conversation with
his wife. Also he was breathing quite heavily. Stuff like that
irritates the hell out of me. I suppose I really must be a control
freak if it bugs me that much. You see, what i really would have
loved was my own provate performance - that would have been perfect."
He pauses, then says abruptly and with real passion. "More than
anything else, I hate mediocrity. Just loathe it."
Although single at the moment, Brown has had girlfriends in the
past - and will again soon, he hopes. I imagine that he'd be quite a
handful. After asking for the cheese trolley to be moved - because
the smell is affecting his enjoyment of the pudding - he talks
fondly about one ex-girlfriend, but then says that what really
united them was that she was even more solitary than he is.
Afterwards, we get into another mini-cab. Brown sits in front with
the driver, which i think is a little strange, but perhaps he's just
being friendly. Or else i'm giving off a cheesy aroma.
"So, how lucky are you in that betting shop?" he asks the
driver. "Eh? How do you know that" says the driver understandably
startled. "Because i've seen you coming out of it." "Ah...right."
The driver gives a rueful laugh. "Well, not that lucky, frankly."
When we get out of the cab, Brown says, "For the record i've never
seen that man coming out of a betting shop." "How did you know
then?" "Just a guess. His general demeanour. Also, he's recently
been divorced." "Hold on, How the bloody......"
"Because there was a mark on his wedding finger where a ring had
been. He's been trying to smarten himself up, too. That's why he's
been on a diet - his belt had been taken in by two notches.
"So you see," he says, "some of it is just about keeping your eyes
open."
End of article.