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THUMBS UP FOR HAMMER AND HUMOUR
StarMag, July 9, 2006
WHILE others remember reading Enid Blyton or The Hardy Boys when they were younger, actor and former radio deejay Patrick Teoh remembers reading Perry Mason and Mike Hammer stories when he was in secondary school.
“I read a lot from Form One to Four. I read because I was left alone most of the time.
“I come from a very small family and my only brother is 14 years older than me. When he left home and went to Singapore, I was only four. So I was pretty much on my own all the time,” Teoh explains.
As a result, most of his time was spent daydreaming, coming up with scenarios for him and his friends to play out, and reading books like Perry Mason (by Erle Stanley Gardner).
His favourite character was Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer.
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Patrick Teoh: Reads fiction for the story; is not too concerned with the language. |
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“He was a private investigator popular in the 1950s. Mike Hammer was a hard-drinking, smoking, gun-toting tough guy in New York, and his stories always had beautiful women and action. In a way, all that was so different from where I was.”
Years later, Teoh came across a Mickey Spillane compendium – Five Complete Mike Hammer Novels. He bought it, hoping to enjoy his favourite childhood stories.
But, “I was so disappointed when I started reading them again. The publisher had modernised the book and made it politically correct. Mike Hammer didn’t smoke any more. It was very different from the books I remembered. I got very upset.”
Among Teoh’s collection of books is Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson. Bryson, he says, is a very funny writer.
“He’s an American who spent years living in England and wrote about his experiences there in this book. After over 20 years, he moved back to the United States and wrote Notes From a Big Country, and subsequently, many other books. Now he’s become like Stephen King or one of those writers who out churn stuff all the time.”
The last book he read was Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. Unlike fans around the world, Teoh did not like it. In fact, after he finished reading it, he threw the book out the window.
“I read it because of all the publicity. I was in the bookshop and thought I’d buy it and see what all the fuss was about. I actually had it for months before I started reading.
“I enjoyed the thriller parts of the book. The research was nothing new to me, but I expected a little bit more when I came to the end.
So what was this big Da Vinci code? After I’d read the last page, I just felt very disappointed – I had wasted two days of my time.”
Teoh is currently reading Surviving in Stroke City by Gerry Anderson.
“Anderson used to be a musician who had a couple of small hit songs. Surviving is a very funny book about his life and experiences in Stroke City, which is in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Anderson wrote this when he was working for the BBC as a radio deejay.”
Teoh, who usually reads late at night, admits that he does much time to do so, what with work, commitments and his two young children. If he reads fiction, it is for the story, as he is not too concerned with the language.
Copyright Star Publications (M) Bhd
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