Jenny McCartney Jenny McCartney

Looking for a male role model? Check out the silverback gorilla

Plus: in praise of Terry Hall, and the complications of being a medieval female mystic

Silverback gorillas sleep on the ground to guard the females and young while they slumber in nests in the trees. Credit: Saddako

One so often hears about famous people who are horrible when they think no one important is looking – barking at assistants, or snapping at waiters – that it’s heartening to learn of the opposite: kindness in circumstances that promise little obvious reward. The author and filmmaker Jon Ronson had just such a story last week about his pick for Radio 4’s Great Lives series: the late Terry Hall, lead singer of the Specials and Fun Boy Three, and an attractively morose and compelling presence on the 1970s and ’80s music scene.

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