Kim Howells: 'Molly an authentic to Tracey Emin's phoniness'

Molly Parkin. Photo:
BBC Cymru Wales/Anthony Lycett

Poor Kim Howells! Who is he? Oh yes, he's the former culture minister turned TV presenter. It fell to him to interview Molly Parkin for the Great Lives series show on BBC Wales (see blog below) broadcast on May 30. But the experience has left him a shadow of his former self - '[It] has shredded my nerves,' he reports on his BBC blog. He writes further: 'She may be in her 80th year but being close to her when she's recounting details of her turbulent life or expounding upon her philosophy is like trying to live with a machine-gun emplacement in the heat of battle.'

He didn't look too comfortable during filming it must be said. As I gazed on his slightly pained on-camera countenance I wondered momentarily whether he had perchance sat on an unlubricated dildo (not to be recommended, people) and was too polite to complain.

Still, he is impressed by her Performance Art (ie, usual behaviour), especially at an exhibition of her sexually explicit paintings - 'Being used only to the phoney, manufactured outrageousness of artists like Tracey Emin and her showbiz ilk' he is dazzled by her authenticity. Tracey Emin phoney? Whatever next.

To read Mr Howells' dispatch click here.