The film Lenny, was interesting from several aspects.

It was directed by by Bob Fosse who (as with Cabaret) got the nighclub atmosphere exactly right.

Willy Rushton and Peter Cook, who had seen Bruce work at The Establishment Club in London were interviewed at the time of the film. Both conceded it was a fine performance from Dustin Hoffman, but both added it was damn-all like the real Lenny Bruce.

Photographs of Bruce show a face with heavy lidded eyes - more like Robert Mitchum in appearance.

Dustin delivered the lines of those routines like a mischievous puck like sprite, whereas Bruce's onstage persona was very much the coolest dude alive.

During the early 1980's I used to blow all my Christmas gig money on a long holiday in January in Spain every year. Working one of the clubs was Ray Martine (star of the TV programme Stars and Garters in the 1960's). Ray had hung out a lot with Bruce in his New York days - first meeting him at the gents outfitters where he had sold Lenny a suit.

I urged Ray to write down his memories, as I had no idea what to ask - but I was utterly fascinated at the story he had to tell. However Ray was bored with showbusiness by this point and jaded in his thoughts towards it.

One of the worse things about the corporate nature of the entertainment industry is that these seminal figures like Lenny Bruce are getting more and more inaccessible to us. Witness the abusive threads about Ewan MacColl - almost entirely based on misunderstanding of this complex but very genuine artist.

Alan Bennett said of the poet John Betjeman, that he was fascinated with that most remote of historical periods - the recent past. I think many of us are, but unlike Betjeman we lack the ability to communicate our fascination.