Silvery ships from the stars…
I did a lot of TV shows over a 30-year period, promoting a stream of books for my publishers. But there was only one for which I happily crossed an ocean in midwinter. That voyage was for an Irish TV show and took place in the middle of a Winter Atlantic storm. My plane home was forced into an emergency landing and diversion to two separate airports – neither of which were where I was actually headed. However, I never regretted making the trip, because on the chat show with me was a singersongwriter who the producer had sold to me as “someone you will never have heard of, but he is good”. In fact, I was a fan, so my answer was an instant ‘yes’.
That singer-songwriter was Al Stewart – probably best known for his hit ‘The Year of the Cat’ – a folksy guitarist who paints musical pictures of people he has known or grand historical events. A quote from his song ‘Carol’ gives this column its title. The song is not really about aliens, more about the singer’s exasperation with the lady in question as he asks “them” to “take me anywhere”; as visitors from beyond, they
