The Best of times, the worst of times

Inevitably, the word ‘addiction’ features early in George Best: All By Himself, the documentary aired on the BBC this week.

The surprise is that, for once, the word is not used in the context of alcoholism.

Instead, the journalist Hugh McIlvanney — who was fortunate to have a ringside seat to see George at his incomparable best and who was later one of the more insightful observers of his terrible decline — talks about how, as a rising star at Old Trafford, the young lad from Belfast showed all the signs of being “addicted to football”.