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I was a big fan of The Pogues when I was 16. Bizarrely I’ve actually met Shane McGowan. I was 16 years old, at the Apocalypse club in London’s Astoria in 1987, he was in there with Robert Plant from Led Zeppelin. I didn’t know who Robert Plant was at the time. Me and my friend spent a few hours talking to Shane and Robert Plant. They were both a great laugh. Most people don’t know Shane MacGowan was also a great illustrator. He drew loads of pictures on the back of some flyers and signed them. Unfortunately, they were in the nostalgia box that somebody in my family threw out. Shane was funny, wearing what looked like a pair of women’s ballet shoes, when he laughed, he made a hissing sound because his teeth were so rotten. They threw him and Robert Plant out of the Astoria club because Shane was balancing a bottle of whiskey on his forehead, that he smuggled into the club. He really was a poet of the 20th century Rest in peace. I always remember this interview with Joe Strummer where he talks about the Pogues. Joe Strummer was also a fellow runner, so cool in my book [
