Andrew O'Hagan

Think where man’s glory most begins and ends,

And say my glory was I had such friends.

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Tully Dawson made himself new to the world, and ripe for the glories of that summer, by showing he was unlike his father. It wasn’t a matter to fight over: some families are made up of strangers and nothing can change it.

It wasn’t a matter to fight over: some families are made up of strangers and nothing can change it.

being young is a kind of warfare in which the great enemy is experience

You could imagine how his whole spirit, as well as his famous good looks and his green eyes, came from a dream of the freedom that existed just beyond his dad. But the photographs tell a sadder story – the saddest one – because Woodbine had green eyes too

He stood there with his arms out, the picture of innocence, the very soul of anarchy, and as we scrambled to the door we saw Steady in the corner, patting his chest with an open hand and nodding as if something agreeable had occurred

That July, it’s the hope and the humour I remember first, but then the shudder, the sense of catastrophic consequences if his father’s life was to become his.

Bad vibes can be an excellent spur: they can make you exist a bit more vividly in a strange room,

‘He’s like Willy Wonka holding the golden ticket,’ he said.

‘Charlie,’ I said. ‘It’s Charlie that gets the ticket. Wonka is the weirdo who owns the factory.’

‘Capitalist pig,’ Tibbs said.

Loyalty came easily to Tully. Love was the politics that kept him going.