John
Hooked on Chess
An amazing life story, and a real window into how life was much less brutal, at least for white men, in the post-war period before 1980. Instead of saddling the talented Mr. Hook with huge debts as we do with students today, the government paid (twice) to send him to art schools so that he could pursue his calling as an artist, and he ended up getting some significant grants for his artwork, which allowed him to pursue his triple avocations of chess, gambling and art. He built an amazing life that, if you proposed it for a script today, would be thrown out as completely implausible. He’s was not the greatest writer but he does convey a fantastic story and you end up greatly regretting not having been able to spend time with him and hear some of his stories.
An amazing life story, and a real window into how life was much less brutal, at least for white men, in the post-war period before 1980. Instead of saddling the talented Mr. Hook with huge debts as we do with students today, the government paid (twice) to send him to art schools so that he could pursue his calling as an artist, and he ended up getting some significant grants for his artwork, which allowed him to pursue his triple avocations of chess, gambling and art. He built an amazing life that, if you proposed it for a script today, would be thrown out as completely implausible. He’s was not the greatest writer but he does convey a fantastic story and you end up greatly regretting not having been able to spend time with him and hear some of his stories.