George: A Memory of George Michael. Sean Smith

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СКАЧАТЬ his musical tastes were very much middle-of-the-road and focused on the charts and what was playing on Radio 1. This was an age of flamboyance and the rather feminine world of glam rock, where pop stars seemed most worried about blow-drying their hair and pouting for the camera – and that was just the men. Image ruled as acts such as The Sweet, Mud and Gary Glitter hogged the charts. There was little room for autobiographical contemplation in the lyrics of hits like ‘Tiger Feet’ and ‘Blockbuster’.

      The ten-year-old Georgios Panayiotou was impressed, but the three acts that had most impact on him then were Queen, Roxy Music and Elton John. They had much more credibility among music critics. Queen first appeared on Top of the Pops in March 1974, performing their debut hit ‘Seven Seas of Rhye’. Georgios became an instant fan, much to the amusement of his friend Michael, who would tease him about it: ‘I used to laugh at it. I would say, “Queen are rubbish, Georgios. Who likes Queen? Nobody likes Queen.”’ Surprisingly perhaps, he did not choose a Queen track when he appeared on Desert Island Discs in 2007, although he didn’t forget all his childhood favourites. He picked ‘Do the Strand’, released by Roxy Music when he was ten.

      None of his friends were particular fans of Elton John. He was never an artist that inspired great devotion, but over the years he was a huge influence on the music of George Michael. The melodies of the suburban superstar from Pinner were a pleasure best enjoyed in quieter moments. He liked the catchy hit ‘Crocodile Rock’ and could often be heard singing, ‘I remember when rock was young, me and Suzie had so much fun’ in the garden. He much preferred it to the more aggressive ‘Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting’ that often ended Elton’s shows.

      The man born Reg Dwight had become one of the biggest superstars in the world despite a less-than-promising appearance. He was chubby, short-sighted, with an ongoing fixation with his hair, or lack of it, but was an aspirational figure for an impressionable ten-year-old boy from the suburbs – who was chubby, short-sighted and struggling with his hair.

      At that age, Georgios pretty much liked everything in the charts, and that even included The Wombles; they featured in a school project he devised. ‘He could be very inspirational about certain things,’ observes Michael. ‘In our last year at junior school, we were put into groups and had to come up with a social project. So Georgios had the idea that we should all be Wombles. They were really popular at the time, clearing rubbish and keeping Britain tidy. The idea was to make things from the rubbish you collected. Georgios was very much the lead and took it upon himself to do the whole thing. He decided he wanted to be Orinoco, who was basically the most popular character. I had to make do with Uncle Bulgaria.

      ‘The best part was devising banners and posters with Mrs Ash that explained why you should keep the school tidy. We put them up around the school. It was such a success that we got commended by the headmaster in assembly.’

      Once Georgios felt comfortable, he had the confidence and ability to take control and make something a success. It was one of the traits he inherited from his father.

      Before he left Roe Green, further evidence of the precocious artistic nature of Georgios Panayiotou came to light. He contributed two poems to the junior school’s 1974 yearbook. They demonstrate a highly developed and mature sense of rhythm and imagination in someone so young. Neither is particularly cheery. The first, ‘The Story of a Horse’, is signed by Georgios Panayiotou, 4S. It began:

      Once there was a lonely horse, weeping on a stack of hay

      The gun was ready, the bullet was hot, the horse had broken a

      leg that day

      The second, entitled ‘Sounds in the Night’, was a freestyle verse signed Professor WhatsIsname (Alias G. Panayiotou 4S):

      … Now what have I forgotten to tell you, I’m sure something slipped my

      Tongue. Ah! Now I remember, you’ll guess what I have

      To say to you … I am BLIND!!!

      Georgios didn’t have far to go when he started senior school at Kingsbury High: it’s next door to Roe Green. He would not be settling in for the long haul, however. Jack had plans to take his family up to the next stage of middle-class Englishness: he wanted them to move to the countryside.

      In January 1975, Jack bought a house on Oakridge Avenue, Radlett, that would be the family home for Georgios throughout his teenage years. The detached four-bedroom white house was simply stunning, although it required a great deal of initial building work to convert it into the spacious, stylish, open-plan Mediterranean-style mansion that Jack had set his heart on. It was at the end of the road; just green fields lay beyond, with trails that were a dog walker’s paradise. The back route into the centre of the pretty Hertfordshire town and its railway station was a brisk ten-minute walk.

      They couldn’t move in immediately, so had to live in the flat above the restaurant in Station Road for a few months. Being able to eat in the Angus Pride all the time wasn’t ideal for his waistline and Georgios, who was prone to gaining a few extra pounds, was on the chubby side when they finally moved.

      The restaurant was proving to be a great success. Some people found Jack Panos a little brash and extrovert, but his son was very gracious about what he called his dad’s ‘heroic effort’. Inevitably, Georgios was the product of both his father and his very English mother. Jack was an astute businessman; material wealth mattered to him. Lesley was a kind and generous soul who cared little for money. Georgios, too, was never motivated by money – much easier not to be when you have some – but he had his father’s strong will to succeed. He was, however, raised in very much a female household, spending most of his time with his mum and two sisters. The two girls also had a profound and underestimated influence on him: Yioda was thoughtful, serious and contained. Melanie was much more flamboyant and extrovert; she was also something of a mother hen where her kid brother was concerned. Georgios would prove to be a mix of both personalities.

      The sisters had it much tougher than the son of the house, although he was indulged rather than spoiled. The girls were not even allowed to have boyfriends. And if they went out together, perhaps to the ice rink, then their younger brother would have to go along, too. A close friend observed that the sisters did have some difficult times dealing with their tough, patriarchal dad, particularly during their teenage years. As a boy, Georgios felt guilty that he always seemed to get his way whereas his two ‘wonderful’ sisters never did. He recalled, ‘I was always the one who was going to get the easy ride.’

      Georgios would have to change schools when they eventually moved. As part of Jack’s master plan of social improvement for his family, he was keen to send his son to private school, but this was not greeted with any enthusiasm. In an early indication of his stubbornness and resolution, Georgios refused, feeling he would be more comfortable in a state school. He would soon be an adolescent teenager with the usual anxieties of that age; it would be hard enough in any new school but particularly one where he was concerned he would feel out of place: ‘My friends would have called me a sissy. Plus I would have been intimidated by it and I really didn’t want to be with those kinds of people.’

      Faced with his son’s immovable ‘force field’, Jack relented and let Georgios have his way. Instead, he was enrolled in Bushey Meads School in Coldharbour Lane, Bushey, five miles away from his new home. There, he would soon meet someone who was to change his life.

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