Vernon Scannell was a thief, a liar, a deserter, a bigamist, a fraud, an alcoholic, a woman-beater and a coward. Plenty of material for a biography, then, especially
given that he was also a novelist, a critic, a memoirist, a boxer, a teacher, a broadcaster, a loyal friend, a passionate lover and ‘a fun grandfather’.
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‘A Yorkshire Christmas Eve’ originally appeared in The Spectator a month after Vernon Scannell’s death in November 2007, and may have been the last poem he wrote. Available from the Spectator Bookshop, £20. Tel: 08430 600033
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