On August 5 1985, Kate Bush made an appearance on Terry Wogan’s early evening BBC1 chat show. Introduced by the avuncular host, the singer lip-synced through her new single, Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God). Standing at a wooden podium, wearing what looked like a monk’s cowl, and backed by a group of similarly attired musicians, she looked like a cross between a politician and a 16th-century religious leader. Her presence on prime time TV was something of a surprise. Just a few days earlier, the NME had mentioned Bush in a piece headlined ‘Where Are They Now?’. Unfortunate timing aside, you could see their point. It had been three years since the singer had last released an album, and she’d been largely absent from the spotlight since then – alifetime away in those pre-internet days. Rumours swirled that she’d ballooned to 18 stone, or was living as a recluse in the French countryside, or both.
As the Wogan appearance proved, the rumour about her weight wasn’t true. And while she had retreated from public view, it was to Kent rather
