Editor: click the link to read the full interview
Amplify’d from thequietus.com
Moorcock's latest work is The Coming of the Terraphiles, an official Dr Who tie-in novel, launched with far more than the usual fanfare as the BBC loudly trumpeted how proud they were to have secured the services of the "veteran SF author," for this special project. Accordingly they've whisked Moorcock across from Paris (where he now resides for half the year- the other half he spends in Texas, where's he lived since the 90s) to the UK for a week of promotional duties. We meet in the faded grandeur of a private members' club in the heart of Imperial Establishment London, a stone's throw from the Ritz and Buck House, and an oddly appropriate setting for this self-proclaimed anarchist with a lifelong passion for history, myth and tradition. Walking with a cane due to long-term neuropathy and a recent operation, the 71-year-old author is every inch the true gentleman, a charming raconteur yet actually moved to tears when discussing the domestic violence centre in Texas that his wife Linda co-runs. As a result we chatted far beyond our allotted time, ranging over a wide range of fascinating topics, only a fraction of which, alas, can be fitted into The Quietus's slightly less than Tardis-like dimensions.
Mike, I'll start by asking you the question that I'm sure you've been asked a million times already this week: were you a fan of Dr Who already?
Michael Moorcock: Well, yeah, I was. I watched it since it started, and I didn't actually like the first Dr Who, William Hartnell, because he used to be in The Army Game where he was a barking sergeant major, and I couldn't help seeing him as this barking sergeant major, but in a different suit! I liked Patrick Troughton better, because he was sort of fey and he started to bring that oddness into the character. I didn't like Jon Pertwee, because he was again a bit too posh, and I really liked Tom Baker. I sort of knew him; I met him once or twice, usually in a pub, and usually drunk out of his skull on 50 valium and a pint of scotch, and ad-libbing like fuck. And it's wonderful to watch the shows and know that all the other actors are just completely at sea because he hasn't given them their cue line, he's just come up with actually a better line, usually. So that was my favourite, like many people I suppose, and I still like him as an actor. I've got this sort of secret ambition: I did a book called Mother London and there's a character in it called Josef Kiss, and he'd make an absolutely perfect Josef Kiss. So the only reason I'd want them to make a movie or a radio thing or anything is just so I can get Tom Baker in to play Josef Kiss. Read more at thequietus.com
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