Many people in the know thought that Nick Drake was going to be hugely successful in the 1970s. His three albums were all critically acclaimed, yet did not sell. Tragically, he took his own life when he was 26. However, ever since his death, his popularity has continually increased throughout the world. This episode sets the record straight on certain unanswered questions about Nick Drake’s private life and his demise and suicide. Was it possible he had severe depression or schizophrenia? Was it possible he was going to marry someone? What would have happened to his mental health, had he been alive today? Thanks to the unfettered access to private correspondence, tapes, university friends, family friends, and female acquaintances, Richard Morton Jack sympathetically but objectively unveils Nick Drake’s private life, medical history and much more.

Books – The Diary of a Nobody by George & Weedon Grossmith – ‘I can remember laughing until I cried with my older brother about it, and I still think it’s incredibly funny’. On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin ‘Nick would have known Bruce Chatwin… it’s an intriguing thought that two very wonderful, very distinctive and rather puzzling young men both emanated from the same little part of the English map at the same time.’

Poems – A.E Housman, Philip Larkin ‘I feel quite comfortable in his company… and I like that he was a big jazz fan, because so am I’.

Movies – Colonel Blimp (Powell), Frenzy (Hitchcock), Nuts In May (Mike Leigh), The Orphanage (J. A. Bayona).

TV – Nathan For You, Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Music – Too many to pick favourites. Here’s what I’ve listened to today: Various classic rock numbers (Led Zep, Neil Young, Free etc), The Viagra Boys – Girls & Boys, John Fahey – Requiem For Mississippi John Hurt, Dungen – Haxan, Change-Is by the Rendell-Carr Quintet, Miguel Abuelo & Nada.

Pets – I keep an eye on the badgers in my garden but have yet to pet one.

Hobbies – Reading, word games, collecting books and records.

Meditation/Exercise – Running, tennis, walking.

Gardening – I take more pleasure in hacking away at nettles than looking after plants.

Nick Drake Discography – Five Leaves Left (1969), Bryter Layter (1971), Pink Moon (1972).