Doherty also reflects on the turbulent relationships with various significant people in his life across the years. Doherty’s drug use left him unable to perform the role of professional musician – when the band went on without him, he was wounded, railing against “the industrialisation of the Libertines”. OK so it doesn’t go into huge detail about many of his exploits but I quite liked the fact it just gave a full on run through of his life without all the normal neediness or self importance you get from autobiographies. I mention all that because despite never getting hooked on smack, and having been able to just walk away from the party scene unscathed, once I got a bit older, more sensible (and probably a lot more boring, lol) I recognise a lot of the chaotic lifestyle Doherty talks about in this book. Doherty speaks about the drug scene in which he sought refuge from the paparazzi and police, stealing phones to “prove myself” to a dealer or hiding out at a super-fan’s flat.

I think he almost had to do that, go through everything he did, and come out the other side to truly discover who he is as a man; a father; a husband; a son; a whole person. He sometimes made use of tabloid curiosity, selling photographs and stories to pay debts, a naivety guiding his approach: “I thought I’d be able to crack it. Fun is always enticing and being a bit naughty has a certain allure when you're younger and wanting to experience everything life has to offer.In a display that spoke of the singer’s stark disregard for the niceties of public life, a spent syringe had been left on the floor in one of the toilet’s cubicles. There is not much of a redemptive narrative arc, very little contrition, and Pete seems to indicate that it's everybody else's intolerance that is the issue and not his Herculian drug hoovering. Much of what is known about Doherty comes from sensational headlines grabbed from tabloid newspaper and bombastic interviews where the singer spieled exaggerated stories about his rockstar lifestyle or just blatantly told lies.

To me it paints a very accurate and important picture of drug abuse and addiction and to talk about it so openly isn’t to glorify it.What’s incredible is not only his total refusal to stop - despite the extreme pressure from family, friends, and the law - accept on his own terms; plus the fact he is still alive where others (like his friend Amy Winehouse) aren’t; and that he managed to maintain such a strong career throughout it all. At the time, it was such a big scandal that Mullord appeared on the front of the Evening Standard claiming he was innocent. Was really looking forward to this one given The Libertines are one of my favourite bands, and Doherty’s story is very poignant. It’s a perfectly normal biography all the info is in there but the whole time I’m waiting for the romanticism and fantasy and lyricism with which the same events are described in the Books of Albion etc.