The latest offering in book form on Irvine Welsh and the Trainspotting industry has just appeared. John Neil Munro’s Lust for Life hit the bookshops last week. Munro is a long-standing friend of Welsh, so it’s similar to Sandy Mcnair’s Carspotting. Between them, they affirm me in my decision not to ask the Big Man for an interview. I wouldn’t worry about being rejected – my problems would start if he agreed to be interviewed. He would almost certainly tell me a load of porkies, which I would have to discount. Besides, my interest in Welsh the man is confined to his life experiences before Trainspotting and his (limited but important) contributions to the play and the film. Munro and McNair provide some interesting biographical details even if in places they can be somewhat self-aggrandising by association with The Man. And I have my own sources. No dirt will be dished – that’s not my style – but for my book I am piecing together a quite instructive picture of the background and origins of Trainspotting.
