"At first it was a joke. Ed being outrageous again at a party; drinking a pitcher of punch here, falling into the flower beds there, falling asleep on the sofa, in the wrong house next door. Nobody really thought it was going to be a career and family destroyer. But it was". 

I was looking forward to reading my friend Ed Mitchell’s book “From Headlines to Hard Times”. After all, how many books do you get to read when you know you’ll get a mention?

The book, the topic of which only those who have been in a perpetual alcoholic stupor for the past year won’t know about, describes Ed Mitchell’s decline and fall from the heights of ITN, BBC and CNBC media stardom to a park bench on Hove seafront, via the bottle. His plunge to the depths was all over TV, Radio and newspapers during the 2007 holiday season and beyond. It was revived again recently with a second documentary following up the first one which was called “Saving Ed Mitchell”. The second one, “Ed Mitchell – What Happened Next?” coincided with the publication of the book.  The good news is that one year on, Ed is still clean. There is no bad news, yet.

Thankfully, Ed’s remarks concerning me were generous. But I had a couple of concerns. How strong would Ed’s writing skills be, and would the book be a maudlin and sentimental attempt at self-justification of the aggravation and misery Ed’s love affair with booze caused to his family, and not to mention the cratering of his career.

In the event I needn’t have worried. Ed’s writing style is powerful and funny. He has a great talent for the self-deprecating throwaway line. Talking about a hot, summer visit to Salzburg, Austria, representing the BBC at a seminar on International Relations, he partied long and hard with his fellow delegates, or probably much longer and harder than anyone. He returned to his room in the early hours.

Mosquitoes
“The mosquitoes gorged on my blood, but I never felt anything. They probably didn’t either,” says Ed.

Ed worked in Switzerland for a while with the ill-fated European Business Channel (EBC), and took an apartment close to where Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung once lived.

“The Swiss have always been significant contributors to, and consumers of, psychoanalysis,” says Ed.

Ed has a unique take on former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, whom he met while the great lady was visiting his employer at the time, Superchannel.

“To me she came across as almost huggable. More soft toy than Iron Lady. But then again, I didn’t have to deal with her in Cabinet.”

Huggable. Crikey.  

Honesty
And there’s no maudlin sentimentality. His honesty in describing the impact of alcohol is almost painfully moving, particularly for someone so close to the action over the years. I’ve known Ed since he started work at Reuters as a trainee. I lived close to him and his family in Hove. My wife Kathy and I are god parents to his son Fred. I have observed over what must be 30 years Ed’s losing battle with the booze. At least it looked for a long time like a losing battle.

At first it was something of a joke. Ed being lovably outrageous again at a party; drinking a whole pitcher of punch here, falling into the flower beds there, falling asleep on the sofa, in the wrong house next door. Nobody really thought it was going to be a career and family destroyer. But it was.

I’ve had many conversations with Ed, where he would swear that his drinking was over, after yet another reckless incident. Days later he would be off again. For example, driving his now divorced wife Judy to distraction. Ed left for London in the morning, and arrived back in the evening a bit dishevelled. Unfortunately it was the evening 3 unexplained, lost, days after he was expected.

Electrifying
Ed explained to me once why alcohol had such a powerful impact on him. It was a real physical jolt when he first tasted alcohol, like an exciting, electric shock to the system. Most of us perhaps simply enjoy the taste, and the mild feeling of inebriation. For alcoholics, the enjoyment apparently is much more instantly euphoric. I met Ed for lunch a month or so ago, and asked him after he’d been off the juice for about a year, why was it apparently successful this time. I just don’t want to be involved with it anymore, was Ed’s way of putting it. I can remember more than 30 years ago finally managing to quit smoking. I’d tried for years and failed. But one day, mentally, I was ready, and I never smoked again. Perhaps Ed was finally ready, although you would think that one of the career or family disasters over the years might have provided a catalyst for quitting.

Secret Service
Ed’s book reminded me of how our careers had briefly run along parallel lines, at Reuters. One thing I always wondered about was the possibility of being recruited by the Secret Service. Surely, if a Reuter’s correspondent was posted to some foreign outpost he was bound to be tapped by MI5 to report back on meetings with politicians, defence operators and shady businessmen. The call never came for me, maybe because my postings were hardly exotic. But Ed was interviewed by some spy, but although once primed, he apparently was never activated. I also admired Ed’s courage in taking risks. His move to ITN, which coincided with the crash of 1987, made Ed into a household name/face. But he still risked it all by going for the EBC job in Switzerland, because this might be a direct route to one of the top jobs in Britain – anchoring ITN’s News at Ten, or the BBC News at Ten.  My personal career plan amounted to hanging on like grim death for the pension.

A theme of the book is Ed’s constant realisation of how lucky he was in getting career breaks when it mattered, so much so, that he seemed to think “someone up there liked me”. From leaving university and getting a coveted traineeship at Reuters, to being rejected by the BBC one day, then receiving a letter the next day saying it was all a mistake and he had the job.

Crashed, burned
This theory seemed to have crashed and burned by the time Ed was seen on the park bench on Hove sea front. But still the guardian angel hadn’t forgotten him. One of the charity workers dispensing soup and sympathy to the vagrants in Hove knew someone who worked for the local paper, the Evening Argus. The reporter had nothing much better to do, so interviewed Ed. But the story broke in the Argus just when concern about the damage the credit crunch was doing, even to the well-heeled middle classes, was beginning to raise concerns nationally, and the Fleet Street papers went for it. So did Jeremy Vine on Radio 2, and countless other newsrooms and chat shows. Ed was a nationally known figure, again, in no time flat. Thankfully, Ed still had enough marbles left to embrace this astonishing piece of luck, which culminated in the biggest break of all – an invite to be dried out at The Priory (again) by a benefactor who paid the £18,000 fee.

Mentally ready
That combination of good fortune seems to have jolted Ed into the realisation that it was time to ditch the demon drink once and for all, and he was mentally ready.

“I wanted to live more than I needed to drink,” is how Ed sums it up in the book.

His friends and family will say, good on you Ed, you did it, finally. Carry on being strong.

“From Headlines to Hard Times”, By Ed Mitchell - John Blake £17.99

 Neil Winton – February 3, 2009

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