Alan Aldridge: Pipe Dreams

I went on a jolly day trip to Paris and if someone had told me I wouldn't be seeing England again for over a year, I'd have laughed. If they told me in less than forty-eight hours I'd be sitting in Santé Prison in Paris, facing a one-year prison sentence...and that, in just two months, I'd be in the south of France, dining with Picasso, I would have called them mad... Alan Aldridge 's life was full of strange adventures and fascinating encounters even before his career as an artist took off. In his 'fictionalised memoir' Pipe Dreams , he presents a gripping, hilarious and at times horrifying account of his early experiences on the road to success. Moving from the underbelly of London's East End to Paris and prison, to the gigolos and beau monde of the Côte d'Azur, Pipe Dreams is a white knuckle ride. Described by John Lennon as the "Man with Kaleidoscope Eyes" and "his Royal Master of Images to Their Majesties The Beatles", Aldridge is the one person who can tell what is true and what is imagined - and he's not letting on.