Ross O’ Carroll-Kelly still has the roight stuff

Paul Howard’s new project is about a British playboy, but his D4 classic still has appeal for those outside the Pale, says Richard Fitzpatrick

SATIRIST Paul Howard has a full dance card this year. In September, he will publish his 17th Ross O’Carroll-Kelly book. He has a couple of “top secret” TV and theatre projects planned, and in the autumn he will submit the manuscript for his biography of Tara Browne, which will be published in 2016 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Browne’s death.

Howard’s description of his subject’s life indicates how much rich material he had to include in the book. A member of the Guinness family, Browne had a short but gilded life. The Beatles immortalised him in ‘A Day in the Life’ (“He blew his mind out in a car/He didn’t notice that the lights had changed”).