Notebook #12: Neil Pearson, Cooper Hay, a pub with a poet-in-residence

An Edinburgh books special

Neil Pearson. Credit: Getty

Slightly foxed

People out of place. They mess with my compartmentalised brain. And so last Saturday afternoon saw me befuddled. Yes, even more than usual.

I was at The George, the loveliest of Edinburgh’s lovely hotels, for a book fair. Ahead was a blissful three hours of doing nothing but browse rare books and chat to bookish types.

And then I noticed a face I recognised. A face that did not fit its surroundings.

A decidedly handsome man, probably in his early 60s. Blue eyes. Good head of hair for his age, swept back off his forehead. Dressed effortlessly well. Self-contained.

Surely this guy manning a second-hand book stall was famous? Yes, definitely. A famous actor, in fact. I racked my brains.

Neil somebody? Neil Pearson! Of course, it was Neil Pearson, star of the 1990s newsroom sitcom Drop The Dead Donkey. Like every other journalist in the country I loved that programme, especially the way it incorporated the week’s actual news into the scripts.

Pearson was, of course, also star of many other things, including Silent Witness, Between The Lines, Waterloo Road and all the Bridget Jones films.

So what was this famous actor - an actual heartthrob - doing here, in a hotel ballroom in Edinburgh full of the city’s most tweedy citizens?

It seems Pearson has, for more more than a decade, had a side hustle as an antiquarian bookseller.

Neil Pearson Rare Books has an admirably eclectic stock but a particular strength comes from delving into literary and showbiz archives.

Pearson has sourced a treasure trove of material from the vaults of the publisher Victor Gollancz. Giles Gordon, a ubiquitous figure in the Edinburgh arts world for many decades before his death in 2003, was once editorial director at Gollancz. And so Pearson has access to some Scottish gems.

Pearson has also obtained the papers of a range of famous actors and comedians, including Alan Rickman, Tony Hancock and Frankie Howerd. Another of his strengths is original shooting scripts for famous films. I also noticed he was selling hand-written lyrics by one of my heroes, Tom Waits.

We had a nice chat about North Korea, Muriel Spark and The Wicker Man. And he sold me a book: Whither Scotland? A Prejudiced Look at the Future of a Nation, a Gollancz collection of punchy essays from 1971 by figures including Hugh McDiarmid, Norman Buchan and George Mackay Brown.

Pearson, at the age of 65, has somehow managed to be accomplished in two careers: as a much-loved actor of note and a bookseller of distinction. This is very impressive.

-o0o-

In the neighbourhood

Usually when I want to visit to my favourite second-hand bookshop I need to get on a train to Glasgow, walk up the hill from Queen Street Station towards Blythswood Square, and negotiate a narrow stairway on Bath Street down to an anonymous-looking basement.