In the press box of the Morristown football ground 'the stockily-built, the tousled-haired, the pugnaciously-featured Attercliffe' - 47 years old, father of five, separated from his wife - takes notes on the Saturday afternoon match. One eye on the game below, he chats to his fellow journalists: 'the pug-nosed, the pug-eared Morgan', Davidson-Smith ('overcoated', 'deerstalker-hatted') and Freddie Fredericks, Frank Attercliffe's aging and alcoholic mentor, and co-author with him of Pindar's Weekend Round-up, a sports column on the Northern Post. After the match, in the Buckingham Bar, Fredericks introduces Frank to Phyllis Gardner - eyes 'long-lashed', teeth 'pearl-buttoned' between 'brightly-fashioned lips'. Phyllis is an actress, and Fredericks's idea is that Attercliffe should interview her for the Northern Post. Maybe it'll help him get interested in writing plays again. Maybe it'll be the start of a new romance.

LRB 17 May 1984 | PDF Download