RIP Syd Barrett

I only really knew (being the 80s baby that I am) about the story of Syd Barrett from going to see Tom Stoppard's play Rock'n'Roll a few weeks ago, where he plays a central role (although not appearing on stage). How very sad that he's now dead at the age of 60, reclusive in Cambridge as he was in the play. And how strange that he now lives in the play, every night, where two of the characters are almost protectresses of him, and one of them writes prying tabloid headlines about him in that usual heartless way. 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn' opens the play, sung from the top of a wall in a Cambridge garden by a character presumed to be Syd before the big time hit and haunts the play throughout.

The play is excellent, by the way...