Ugly Rumours
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Ugly Rumours were a rock band of which current (as of May 5, 2005) UK prime minister Tony Blair was a member (singing and playing guitar) whilst studying law at St John's College, Oxford during the 1970s. The band's name came from the cover of the Grateful Dead's album From the Mars Hotel.
Ugly Rumours is also the name of the first novel by American writer Tobias Wolff. Published only in England, according to critic Wyatt Mason (http://www.lrb.co.uk/v26/n03/maso02_.html), this "tale of the Vietnam War, appeared in Britain in 1975 but is always omitted from his list of publications. ... In the book's best scene ... there is a suggestive seed of achievement to come. The cynical lieutenant, Woermer, wounded on duty after he agrees to go on a manoeuvre in place of his sergeant friend, is interviewed by an English journalist hungry for gory details:
"Woermer, in desperation, tried to explain how it felt to have a mine go off almost under your feet, the sound so loud you could not hear it, the sudden lightness of body, all of it. But the right words would never come ... His imagination took over from his memory. He led the scribbling Englishman through tiger-infested jungles, escapes from entire divisions of hardcore Vietcong, and daring daylight raids on enemy headquarters. Woermer told these lies without pleasure, because he saw the reporter had no respect for truth."
External link
- Interview with Mark Ellen: bassist (http://www.oxfordstudent.com/2002-04-18/features/2)
- Spoof review of The Ugly Rumours from the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/oxford/music/2003/05/ugly_rumours.shtml)