Stuart: A Life Backwards

Last updated

Stuart: A Life Backwards is a biography by Alexander Masters of his friend Stuart Clive Shorter, formerly, at various times, a prisoner and a career criminal. It explores how a young boy, somewhat disabled from birth, became mentally unstable, criminal and violent, living homeless on the streets of Cambridge. As the title suggests, the book starts from Shorter's adult life, and works backwards to trace through his troubled childhood, examining the effects his family, schooling and disability had on his eventual state.

Contents

The book won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award in 2005 for biography, and the 2006 Hawthornden Prize. [1] [ unreliable source? ] It won the 2005 Guardian First Book Award. Recently many secondary schools across the UK have included it in their higher education academic syllabus for English language.

A television dramatisation with the same name, starring Tom Hardy as Shorter and Benedict Cumberbatch as Masters was co-produced by the BBC and HBO in 2007. Tom Hardy was nominated for a 2008 BAFTA for his portrayal of Stuart Shorter. [2] Additionally, Laurence Hobbs was cast in the role of Smithy. [3]

A stage production premiered in 2013 [4] adapted by double BAFTA-winning writer Jack Thorne produced by HighTide Festival Theatre and the Crucible Theatre Sheffield. Perrier Award winner Will Adamsdale played Alexander Masters and Fraser Ayres played Stuart Shorter, and was nominated for Best Actor in The Stage Awards. [5]

The life of Stuart Shorter

Stuart Shorter (born Stuart Clive Turner on 19 September 1968 in Cambridge – died 6 July 2002 in Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire) was a homeless man and advocate whose life was chronicled by Alexander Masters in his book.

Early life

Shorter was born in a condemned cottage on the edge of Cambridge, the son of Andrew Turner (called Rex in the book and dramatisation), a gypsy and Sonia (Judith), (née Tierney), a barmaid. Sonia later remarried, to David Shorter [Paul]. Stuart had two brothers and one half-sister, Andrew [Gavvy], Kai [Marcus] and Zoe [Karen]: most noted in the novel are his older brother, Gavvy, and younger sister, Karen. Marcus is only mentioned briefly in the book. Shorter suffered from facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, which he inherited from his father, [6] and borderline personality disorder. [7]

As a child, Shorter was sexually abused by his brother, and also by a babysitter, after which he was put into a children's home. Here, he was abused again by the paedophile Keith Laverack, who in 1997, was jailed for 18 years for various offences against children. During his adult life, Shorter was in and out of various homeless hostels, as well as spending much time in prison for a number of violent crimes. He also fathered one son, the Little'Un, who lives in Norwich.

Activism

In 1998, following a five-year jail sentence for armed robbery, Shorter was living in a subterranean multi-storey car park when he was rescued by two outreach workers, who found him a flat to live in. He subsequently became one of the first people to bring The Big Issue into Cambridge, and his work as an activist for the homeless began when he presented a short BBC2 documentary, Private Investigations, denouncing police plans to ban homeless people from the city centre. [8]

In 1999, Shorter became a leading figure in the campaign to release Ruth Wyner and John Brock, the Director and Day Centre Manager of Wintercomfort for the Homeless, who had been sent to prison because some of the people they were looking after had been secretly trading drugs on the charity's premises. [9] Shorter negotiated with police to organise marches and vigils, and arranged the campaign's most successful gesture, a three-day sleep-out of homeless people outside the Home Office in London, which ended in the release of the "Cambridge Two" after just six months.

Death

On 6 July 2002, just outside his home village of Waterbeach, Stuart Shorter was hit by the 11.15pm London to King's Lynn train, and was killed instantly. He was 33 years old. As to the cause of his death, the jury returned an open verdict. Despite an overall lack of evidence that Shorter purposefully walked in front of the train, the coroners report stating that this was contrary to how his body was positioned at the time of death, there are hints that suggest Shorter may have intended to die. Shorter had a long history of attempted suicides and his sister Zoe once mentioned in an interview that Shorter informed her that were he ever to commit suicide he would make it appear accidental as he felt that the prospect of his mother losing both sons to suicide would be too much for her to bear. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoë Wanamaker</span> American-British actress (born 1949)

Zoë Wanamaker is an American-British actress who has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre. Wanamaker was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2001 by Queen Elizabeth II. She has received numerous accolades including a Laurence Olivier Award and nominations for three BAFTA Awards, and four Tony Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Derek Jacobi</span> English actor (born 1938)

Sir Derek George Jacobi is an English actor. Jacobi is known for his work at the Royal National Theatre and for his film and television roles. He has received numerous accolades including a BAFTA Award, two Olivier Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award. He was given a knighthood for his services to theatre by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Frayn</span> English playwright, novelist (born 1933)

Michael Frayn, FRSL is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clive James</span> Australian writer and broadcaster (1939–2019)

Clive James was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019. He began his career specialising in literary criticism before becoming television critic for The Observer in 1972, where he made his name for his wry, deadpan humour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Hare (playwright)</span> British playwright, screenwriter and director (born 1947)

Sir David Rippon Hare is an English playwright, screenwriter and theatre and film director. Best known for his stage work, Hare has also enjoyed great success with films, receiving two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for writing The Hoursin 2002, based on the novel written by Michael Cunningham, and The Readerin 2008, based on the novel of the same name written by Bernhard Schlink.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Massey</span> English actress (1937–2011)

Anna Raymond Massey was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Best Actress Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner's novel Hotel du Lac, a role that one of her co-stars, Julia McKenzie, has said "could have been written for her". Massey is also well-known for her role as a barmaid in Alfred Hitchcock's 1972 thriller Frenzy. She performed over one hundred character roles in British film and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Thewlis</span> English actor (born 1963)

David Wheeler, better known as David Thewlis, is an English actor and filmmaker. He is known as a character actor and has appeared in a wide variety of genres in both film and television. He has received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and nominations for two BAFTA Awards, Golden Globe Award, Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Iain Declan Softley is an English film director, producer, and screenwriter. His films include Backbeat,Hackers, The Wings of the Dove, K-PAX, The Skeleton Key, Inkheart and the BBC adaptation of Sadie Jones's novel The Outcast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacqueline Wilson</span> English novelist

Dame Jacqueline Wilson is an English novelist known for her popular children's literature. Her novels have been notable for featuring realistic topics such as adoption and divorce without alienating her large readership. Since her debut novel in 1969, Wilson has written over 100 books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Hardy</span> British actor (born 1977)

Edward Thomas Hardy is an English actor, producer, and screenwriter. After studying acting at the Drama Centre London, he made his film debut in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down (2001). He had supporting roles in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) and RocknRolla (2008), and went on to star in Bronson (2008), Warrior (2011), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Lawless (2012), This Means War (2012), and Locke (2013). In 2015, he starred as "Mad" Max Rockatansky in Mad Max: Fury Road and both Kray twins in Legend, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Revenant. He has appeared in three Christopher Nolan films: Inception (2010), The Dark Knight Rises (2012) as Bane, and Dunkirk (2017). He has since starred as Eddie Brock/Venom in the film Venom and its 2021 sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Simm</span> English actor, director and musician

John Ronald Simm is an English actor, director, and musician. He is best known for playing Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, the Master in Doctor Who, and DS Roy Grace in Grace. His other television credits include State of Play, The Lakes, Crime and Punishment, Exile, Prey, and Cracker. His film roles include Wonderland, Everyday, Boston Kickout, Human Traffic and 24 Hour Party People. He has twice been nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Will Adamsdale</span> English actor

Will Adamsdale is an English actor, comedian and writer. In 2004, he won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for Best Show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for his show Jackson's Way.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Hollander</span> British actor (born 1967)

Thomas Anthony Hollander is a British actor. As a child Hollander trained with the National Youth Theatre and was later involved in stage productions as a member of the Footlights and was president of the Marlowe Society. He later gained success for his roles on stage and screen, winning a BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, as well as nominations for a Tony Award and Olivier Award.

Alexander Wright Masters is an English author, screenwriter, and worker with the homeless. He lives in Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Thomas William Basden is an English actor, comedy writer, and a member of the British four-man sketch group Cowards. He has written and performed extensively for comedy shows on the BBC and Channel 4 and often collaborates in two-man shows with fellow Cowards member Tim Key.

Lia Williams is an English actress and director, both on stage, in film and television. Her roles have included playing Wallis Simpson in The Crown, May 33rd for which she was nominated for a BAFTA, The Missing (2016), Kiri (2016), His Dark Materials (2019-2022), and The Capture (2019-present).

Neal Street Productions is a British film, television and theatre production company founded by Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris and Caro Newling in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Walsh (filmmaker)</span> English filmmaker

John Walsh is a filmmaker and author. He is the founder of the film company Walsh Bros. Ltd. His film work on subjects such as social mobility and social justice has received two BAFTA nominations.

Dame Philippa Jill Olivier Harris is a British film and television producer/executive. She co-founded Neal Street Productions in 2003 with Sam Mendes and Caro Newling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Junior</span> British mental health activist

John Junior, also known as The Duckman, is a British mental health activist. He is known for featuring in the multi-award winning and BAFTA nominated documentary series, Hollyoaks IRL. In November 2019, he created the mental health movement "John and Charlie's Journey", to raise awareness for suicide and mental illness.

References

  1. ↑ "Hawthornden prize | Book awards | LibraryThing".
  2. ↑ "Stuart: A Life Backwards". IMDB.com. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
  3. ↑ "Stuart: A Life Backwards". IMDB.com. Retrieved 18 December 2012.
  4. ↑ "Stuart: A Life Backwards adaptation to launch new Edinburgh venue at Fringe". The Guardian. 2 May 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  5. ↑ "Janet Suzman, David Calvitto and Theatre Ad Infinitum among our Edinburgh awards nomineese". The Stage. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  6. ↑ See, Carolyn (23 June 2006). "Looking down on a miserable man". Washington Post. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  7. ↑ "Life in the raw". The Scotsman. 9 April 2005. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  8. ↑ Masters, Alexander (18 August 2007). "My friend Psycho". The Telegraph. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
  9. ↑ Edemariam, Aida (9 December 2005). "My friend Stuart". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 May 2015.
  10. ↑ Carpenter, Louise (10 September 2006). "Life after Stuart". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.