Auctioned diaries of an actor who inspired a classic movie have a Keswick connection.
Diaries of Vivian MacKerrell, the actor who was an inspiration for the Cumbrian-set film Withnail and I, recently went on sale at Sotheby’s as part of a major books and manuscripts sale.
MacKerrell was a friend and housemate of Bruce Robinson who would later become famous as the writer and director of the popular black comedy, Withnail and I. He was also a friend of former Keswick School student, Dale Campbell-Savours, the former MP for Workington – the pair spending much time together in London and Nottingham as young men in the 1960s.
Withnail and I, with its many scenes filmed in Cumbria, has developed a loyal following; hence MacKerrel’s diaries have stimulated interest around the world as they document the time when MacKerrel was living with and providing inspiration for Bruce Robinson to write the film.
While living with MacKerrell, Robinson began developing the fictionalised story of two out of work actors in London, who then go on a riotous and hilarious holiday to Cumbria. This story became the acclaimed movie, with the MacKerrell inspired character Withnail portrayed by Richard E. Grant, and the character I (Marwood), loosely based on Robinson himself, played by Paul McGann.
Dale Campbell-Savours says he knew MacKerrell well as a young man and recalls him fondly as a good friend, and someone with a talent for entertaining.
He explains: “I knew the family basically, there was Viv, and his brother. His father was an accountant. He lived on The Park in Nottingham. I was part of a group of young people, about half a dozen, who regularly met in Nottingham in the 1960s. I had just come back from Paris where I had been a student.”
Dale had won a competition in 1959 by the Daily Express to go to Israel and Jordan. As it was organised by the British Council of Churches, in Nottingham, Dale went to stay there but ended up living in the city for several years.
He met Viv and his brother in 1963, as part of a group of friends in their teens and early 20s; often meeting in the town’s cafes and pubs, including the Kardomah Cafe and the Trip to Jerusalem pub.
“On one occasion he turned up with Rod Stewart”
“He was quite a character. He was going out with the sister of my girlfriend,” explains Dale. “I recall one particular occasion, when he turned up with Rod Stewart. There was Rod Stewart and Viv and his brother. They were all sitting there, and he was there with this bloke who was in a band with Long John Baldrey, called Steampacket.”
In the late sixties Dale used to visit Viv in his house in Camden Town in London. This was the house owned by David Dundas, Lord Dundas, who was part of their crowd; and later had a hit single in 1976 called Jeans On, that reached number 3 in the charts. Other tenants of the property included Bruce Robinson who would begin writing the story, Withnail and I.
“I went there very regularly. That was his London place. By that time he was at Central School of Speech and Drama. I would go up there and we would go out for a drink occasionally and chat and talk. Also, we used to listen to The Beatles. I remember we would listen to the Revolver album a lot.
“When you are young, you don’t think these things are important. I didn’t know Dunbas was going to produce this fabulous song. My mate was Viv. The late 60s – we all moved on really.”
Dale moved to Manchester, and then back to Cumbria but he remembers Vivian as “a good bloke”. “He came from a nice family”. He also recalled Vivian’s love of his old Alvis car that he drove.
“I remember him as a good mate really.”
MacKerrell was also someone with a talent for performing, Dale recalling him acting in a Tennesse Williams play.
“He was a very good impersonator of people. He was an extrovert. We were all making our way in the world and he had this talent that we liked. He was interesting as a character. And it was a time where none of us knew where we were all going in life. None of us do. I remember him very fondly.”
“Finest wines available to humanity” and going on “holiday by mistake”
Withnail and I includes scenes shot at Sleddale Hall (Crow Cragg in the film) near Shap, where Withnail proclaims they have arrived on holiday “by mistake”. The location receives regular pilgrimages from film fans, the British Film Institute describing it as one of the most famous and visited of all British film locations.
Other Cumbrian locations used in the film include the stone bridge on the River Lowther where Withnail goes fishing with comic results; also a scene filmed at Wideworth Farm Road, Bampton, where he phones his disinterested agent from a red phone box; and dramatic views of Haweswater Reservoir.
Disappointingly though, the now famous “finest wines available to humanity” scene was not shot in a Penrith tea room as the film portrays, but in Buckinghamshire instead.
Two of MacKerrell’s diaries have been put up for auction this summer, covering the years 1974 to 1975, and begin while he was still living with Robinson.
Dr Gabriel Heaton, Sotheby’s Books & Manuscripts Specialist, said: “It is a great privilege to be afforded this insight into the inspiration and background to one of the greatest of modern British films, indeed into the moment that Bruce Robinson began to write his first version of Withnail and I, which is recorded in the diaries themselves.
“The diaries are also a touching tribute to MacKerrell’s friendship with Bruce Robinson, and the impact they had on each other’s lives.”
Withnail and I, set in 1969, has become a major cult movie, and almost 40 years after its release continues to find favour with new fans, a recent stage adaptation showing its enduring appeal.
The diaries include real-life events that are instantly recognisable as inspiration for many of the film’s famous episodes, including a visit to see wolves in Regent’s Park, that parallels the film’s poignant ending.
Bruce Robinson noted in his introduction to Withnail and I: the Original Screenplay, that “Without Viv, this story could never have been written…”
