Matthew Henry John Bartlett

In a rather worthwhile talk on theology and the arts [RealAudio: Part 1, Part 2] Jeremy Begbie said:

I was deprived. I never had the unhappy childhood necessary for greatness. The worst things that happened to me were shopping at weekends, unfinished homework and the ghost beneath the bed. My one regret in life is that I was not born on the bad side of town. At 14 I wanted to be the heavyweight champion of the world, but I was 70 pounds to light, and had no criminal record. I could have been the next John Lennon, but my parents couldn’t misunderstand me. My first novel dried up through lack of trauma. No skeletons in my cupboards, no ghosts to exorcise. Now I’m going to be a poet, I’m looking for the net that could be the key, the chip that could be the spur. If only things had been different. If only I could have been like the rest. All I ask of life is some poverty to flee from and a pit to climb out of.