Home Truths

My Grandad Worked For De Valera;
Drove him around in '23.
Didn't live half as long as his mentor,
But played his part in history.

My Gran went out with Bertrand Russell;
She knew a few of the Bloomsbury Set.
Virginia Woolf once tried to seduce here
(We haven't released her diaries yet).

My Dad was there when the Germans surrendered;
He drove to Berlin in a tank.
You know that big pub near Smithfield Market?
That's where he and Churchill drank.

My mum was John Lennon's first real girlfriend;
She introduced him to LSD.
The rest of the Beatles still phone her at weekends.
Yoko often comes round for tea.

My little sister is a film maker;
Kenneth Branagh is her best mate.
She has already won several oscars,
And hangs around in Notting Hill Gate 

Even though my friends say I'm modest,
I'll admit I am IBM's boss.
I suppose you could say that it's music,
Art, science, medicine and poetry's loss. 

(Tim Bradford, 1994)

'Home Truths' appeared in the Autumn 1995 issue of Odyssey. 

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