Berlin, Bromley - Bertie Marshall

Filed under: New Writing, Punk   

Bertie Marshall provides a sneak preview of his own punk memoir documenting his suburban transformation into Berlin

Berlin, Bromley -
Bertie Marshall

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THREE PIECE SUITE. A fading Polaroid of the twilight world, of a London suburb. It’s net curtains, privet hedges, Pebbledash, Fishmongers and draylon furniture.

A teenage boy invents a persona called ‘ BERLIN’ and created from a realm of ‘magic and glamour’ in his tiny bedroom in a Victorian Terrace house, in the South London suburb of Bromley, in 1975.

The text is Part auto fiction, memoir, historical / cultural document.

‘’Bromley High Street in the late 70’s was a hangover from the 50’s and 60’s, like an expanding village, with only two narrow streets. It had a Little Theatre; a Tudor fronted building. Marianne Faithfull had played there once in The Three Sisters. And Cliff Richard in Panto. He played ‘Buttons’ to Lulu’s Prince Charming and Clodah Rodgers, Good Queen.’’

Text as Jumble Sale, a jamboree of findings, ads for menthol cigarettes, swatches of Habitat wall paper, snap shots of sleeping pills, it will also feature photographs of ‘BERLIN ‘and BROMLEY and the THREE PIECE SUITE in 1975.

The first chapter of "Berlin, Bromley" is available for download:

Posted on November 1st, 2004.

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