Interviewees

Ted and Willy Walters

Ted and Willy Walters live in a terraced house just near Camden station
and gave this interview in their brilliantly decorated kitchen. A pink
flamingo hung on the wall behind them as Willy's clothes mannequins
stood proudly by the sofa. Ted is an interior designer and work
includes 'Seditionaries', Malcom McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's
Pioneering shop on the King's Road. Ted wore a small knitted hat as we
all drank very large measures of vodka with a dash of tonic. Willy has
very beautiful auburn hair which combines with her red lip-stick to
give her a glamorous yet approachable look

Marie-Elsa

Marie-Elsa went to Camden Girls School and spent a good deal of her
teenage years hanging around Camden. Now thirty-six, Marie-Elsa was
just old enough to see the last few years of the punk movement which
she remembers vividly although she never went as far as styling a
mohican or piercing her cheek. Marie-Elsa is tall and elegant with long
brown hair. Her posture and manner betray her past career as a dancer,
just as her complexion gives away her French roots.

Nino Macaroni

Niall McInerney aka Nino Macaroni has lived in Camden Town since the
1960's when he bought a house on the canal because his girlfriend and
future wife lived at Number 8. Nino is Irish with a soft southern
accent and a wry sense of humour. He takes photographs for a living and
has worked on the collections of both Jean-Paul Gaultier and Vivian
Westwood. I met him in his terrace house which doubles up as a studio
and stayed there talking for a very long time.

Caspar Norman

Caspar and his father Torquil Norman bought The Roundhouse as members
of a private trust about six years ago and have great plans for the
place. Caspar is a very mild mannered young man despite having the
stature of a rugby player and, although a little shy, he is very
eloquent. I met him in the basement of The Roundhouse among an
exhibition of life-sized nudes cast in bronze and marble. Having lived
in Camden all his life, he has a lively knowledge of the place and has
a real affection for, and commitment to the community.

Alan

Alan has lived in Camden for five years but he is originally from
Scotland as his accent reveals. He drinks in the Good Mixer every day
and knows just about every one in there. After visiting Camden once, he
fell in love with it and has lived there ever since. What really
attracts him to it, he says, are the characters - especially the
drunks. He's about 5'10'' with messy brown hair and a cheeky, toothless
grin. His countenance is mild and his conversation witty. He was
pleased to tell me about some of the friends he's made since moving to
the area.

Joe, Mike, Paul and A Man that Couldn't Speak

On Alan's recommendation, we went outside the Good Mixer to an
old-fashioned bus shelter where four of the Irish drunks of the kind
Alan had described were hanging out. Joe was the main talker although
Mike seemed reasonably eloquent (considering how drunk they all were),
but he refused to be included because he was signing on and didn't want
to get caught. Paul was the oldest - although the drink had probably
aged them all - and he was wearing a flat cap and had no teeth. Joe, on
the other hand, had no hair and the fourth man, whose name I didn't
get, had lost the power of speech and almost the ability to walk. He
had a very red face and grunted and gasped like a child. During the
course of the interview he was continually prodding a cigarette in my
direction, indicating, I realised, that he needed a light.

Yorkie

Yorkie has been a regular visitor to Camden Town for the last six
years. On his first trip he stumbled into the Elephant's Head, a
biker's pub just off the main street and never looked back. A small,
thin man, Yorkie also has a few teeth missing and is covered with a
number of elaborate tattoos. The most prominent one was on his neck and
spelt 'Yorkie'. As he had a deep Bradford accent, I assumed this was a
nick-name, but despite his fearful appearance; his army jacket, big Dr
Martin boots and numerous tattoos, Yorkie was extremely pleasant and
polite. I have tried to capture his accent in the writing because it
was one of the deepest Yorkshire lilts I've ever encountered. The rest
I must trust to your own imagination.