John and his wife, Nora Forster, have been married for 41 years, and if his latest book tells us anything it’s how patently he adores her.
Now 78, Nora has been battling Alzheimer’s disease for several years, with John, 64, her full-time carer. It’s an undertaking he carries out with his customary zeal.
As he says: ‘She doesn’t remember faces or situations, but her personality is still there and that’s the person I loved over 40 years ago. That’s not going to change. Of course, there are issues, but there are issues with everything. I’m a long-term hauler and so is my Babbie.
While occasionally he has to bathe and dress his wife, too, ‘it’s not gone into complete incapacity’, he says. ‘But I’ve been promised by the experts it will. Until then, this is how it is.’
He employs help only when he has to go away on tour with his band, Public Image Limited (PiL), ‘but I’ve got to earn the money to pay for all this because it’s damned expensive.
John has always exhibited a touching devotion to his wife, as anyone who watched him on I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out Of Here! in 2004 can attest. He walked off the show after the producers refused to let him know whether his wife’s flight had landed safely in Australia, where the show was being filmed. He also claims — somewhat incredibly for a doyen of the music industry — that he has never cheated on his wife. ‘And why would I?’ he asks, astounded. ‘I fought so hard to find something true and righteous in my life, why would I mess that up?’
I think he has a bit of a death wish too. He's piled on the weight and seems to not care about himself as though he's priming for when she goes and hopes he does too? Just a feeling I get.
I've always liked John Lydon. He speaks his mind and has a certain integrity you don't see often now.
I was never struck on his public image, he always came across as an attention seeking yob to me.
His words are in contrast to the image he created when he was younger and he sounds like a very caring person towards his wife.
No, I've never thought of him like that. He always struck me as very shy and sensitive when he was younger, and I know that's a complete contrast to his behaviour but I think too that he wore that as a mask. Compared to the behaviour of Steve Jones, John Lydon was a saint! That man fucked everything with a aperture!
I remember Lydon had Jimmy Savile banged to rights way back in the 70s.
A lot of people had Saville sussed, few spoke out though, and if they tried they were shut up or theatened with legal action.
Do you remember an ancient TV programme when awful Bill Grundy sort of goaded the Sex Pistols live on air to say something shocking...and they did
I think Susie from the Banshees was there, with the rest of the sex pistols...they all thought it was hilarious
None of them came out looking particularly clever....and it finished TV Grundy's career.
Grundy by all accounts was a drunken lech. I remember at the time cheering them on because Grundy was so condescending and TV was this stuffy institution. I've read a book about the Bromley Contingent, it was fascinating. They did things most people can only dream about or never want to.
I love that line Steve Jones said.... "What a fuckin' rotter!"
I'm a fan of Siouxsie Sioux too. When Robert Smith of The Cure briefly joined the Banshees, his ego and waistline got a bit inflated, so she started calling him Fat Bob. Apparently, she's a right bossy boots.
A lot of people had Saville sussed, few spoke out though, and if they tried they were shut up or theatened with legal action.
Do you remember an ancient TV programme when awful Bill Grundy sort of goaded the Sex Pistols live on air to say something shocking...and they did
I think Susie from the Banshees was there, with the rest of the sex pistols...they all thought it was hilarious
None of them came out looking particularly clever....and it finished TV Grundy's career.
Grundy by all accounts was a drunken lech. I remember at the time cheering them on because Grundy was so condescending and TV was this stuffy institution. I've read a book about the Bromley Contingent, it was fascinating. They did things most people can only dream about or never want to.
I love that line Steve Jones said.... "What a fuckin' rotter!"
Now, of course, this is not really that shocking.
Today they would be crucified for wearing the swastika but not the swearing
A lot of people had Saville sussed, few spoke out though, and if they tried they were shut up or theatened with legal action.
Do you remember an ancient TV programme when awful Bill Grundy sort of goaded the Sex Pistols live on air to say something shocking...and they did
I think Susie from the Banshees was there, with the rest of the sex pistols...they all thought it was hilarious
None of them came out looking particularly clever....and it finished TV Grundy's career.
Grundy by all accounts was a drunken lech. I remember at the time cheering them on because Grundy was so condescending and TV was this stuffy institution. I've read a book about the Bromley Contingent, it was fascinating. They did things most people can only dream about or never want to.
I love that line Steve Jones said.... "What a fuckin' rotter!"
Now, of course, this is not really that shocking.
Today they would be crucified for wearing the swastika but not the swearing
