Jeremy Scott

My guest in this week’s fascinating and very candid interview is Jeremy Scott, Senior Lecturer in English Language and Literature at the University of Kent.

Jeremy was born in Brentwood, Essex, and talks about growing up in what was known as the ‘stab’ capital of the Metropolitan area and how Romford has changed in the decades since. We discuss why pubs are an important part of the British landscape and whether the demise of the pubs might be seen as an instance of secularization.

Jeremy’s earliest memories are from photos and he recollects how as a child he seemed to be outdoors all day. Football was a big thing for him when growing up, and he was also into sailing and swimming. We learn how music was also an important factor. Jeremy learned to play the guitar and piano and recorded the charts off the radio as well as TV themes. His favourite artists were The Smiths and The Cure and we learn that he grew up in a very musical house. Jeremy reveals what the first record was that he bought and we discuss why music has fragmented over the years. Jeremy reflects back on the tribalism of music in those days and how there would be fights in the centre of Romford between the ‘mods’ and the ‘casuals’.

Jeremy reveals why he became an academic and talks about his passion for writing stories. Jeremy remembers leaving football behind when he became an English and Drama student because it wasn’t ‘right on’ and he explains why he put on various ‘masks’. He then did an MPhil in Creative Writing at Trinity College Dublin and then a PhD on fictional technique and narrative methods. He talks about how one of the joys of his profession is that he is able to follow a research interest to the point of obsession and why he is in some respects at odds with current literary practice.

In the final part of the interview Jeremy discusses how negative experiences can contribute to making us the people we have become and we find out whether he has fulfilled the dreams he had when he was aged 15 and about the degree to which he is revealing anything about himself through his fiction. Jeremy also explains why he is an ‘aspiring, recovering nostalgist’ and how his whole attitude to the past has shifted on its axis since the birth of his daughter.

Please note: Opinions expressed are solely those of Chris Deacy and Jeremy Scott and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of Kent.