The Rotters Club

In January 1975, I began reviewing records for my university's fortnightly paper. I vaguely remember writing to record companies and asking them to send me 'product'; I don't know how many didn't bother to answer, but I do know that Virgin and Charisma seemed only too pleased to have their records reviewed in a student newspaper.

One of the first records which I received was by a hitherto unknown to me group with the curious name of 'Hatfield and the North'. This moniker was bestowed upon them by singer Mike Patto in tribute to the road signs which gigging groups would see when leaving London heading northwards. The signs are still there, but I don't know how much effect this free advertising had on the career of the group. Anyway, I digress. The name of the record was 'The Rotters Club', which derived from one line of the opening song "Share it", although quite who or what the Rotters Club was never made clear.

The music was definitely an eye-opener (shouldn't that be 'ear-opener') for me, and I quickly grew to love it. It transpired that the bass player in this group was Richard Sinclair who had previously played with Caravan, whose 'Land of grey and pink' album I had liked from a few years before. Unfortunately Hatfield and the North didn't last that long before breaking up and reappearing as National Health, who also broke up in 1979. I still play their records with some frequency.

A few years ago, it came to my attention that there was a novel by this name, written by Jonathan Coe. The book's blurb said that it was about four teenagers growing up in Birmingham during the latter half of the 70s, which piqued my interest, although I couldn't immediately see why the book was so titled, although after buying the book and reading it, the connection became clear. One of the four teenagers is called Ben Trotter and he has a sister called Lois. Depraved minds altered their names so that they became Bent Rotter and Lowest Rotter, hence the Rotters Club. And yes, Ben goes to a concert with Lois' boyfriend in order to see Hatfield and the North.

I very much like the book because it reminds me very strongly of my schooldays. I went to a school very similar to the one described in the book, and the general milieu of school-life as described was like mine, although I finished my schooldays five years before Ben Trotter did. Whilst there are a couple of passages which don't seem to have much connection with the rest of the book (and isn't teenage life like that, with episodes which don't appear to connect?), I find that the book improves with reading.

My copy of the book (not the latest imprint) states at the back that a followup novel, "The Closed Circle" is intended, which will take place from 1999-2003. In the mean time, this sequel has been published and I bought it in July. I read it then and wasn't too impressed; I read it again over the past few days and enjoyed it more, even though it's not as good as the first book. What is interesting is the alternate explanations that Coe provides for some of the stranger events in the first book. It also occurred to me this morning that the passages in the first book which don't seem to have much relevance were inserted in order to act as hooks for the second book. Now, having read the second book, these items suddenly take on more meaning.

I'm not very good on meta-reading, ie thinking about what lies in the background of the book and making conclusions from what is not included in the book, so maybe I'm just stating what may be obvious to other people.

"The Rotters Club" was dramatised, and I've just seen the three episodes broadcast on one of our local satellite channels. Of course, quite a few changes have occurred; all parts were diminished and many parts were cut out entirely (including those parts which act as hooks). I don't mind that very much, but what I found very disconcerting was the introduction of completely new material, mainly in the third part. I wonder what impression the dramatisation would give to someone who hasn't read the book. Hatfield don't appear on screen, although I did see stage monitors with their name stencilled upon them; Ben also gives his sister a copy of the album which is seen quite clearly. Maybe that will rack up some sales for the group.