i invariably found that those with a background of personal instability were fatally attracted to scruffy ideologies which had a vested interest in the decay or the destruction of the existing order. -dennis potter, Blade on the Feather.

potter was 59 when he died. in his last interview, his hands were like gnarled bird feet clutching endless cigarettes, drinking  a tall flute of wine and a whiskey flask of liquid morphine, racing to sum up and finish his last work, Cold Lazarus.