...Colin Welland had it about right.
The star of Roll On Four O’Clock, Welland’s 1970 TV play about the sta ff and pupils of a Manchester Secondary Modern, was a teenage outcast called ‘Pansy’ Peter Latimer.
Wearing blue jeans, a fawn roll-neck sweater, a blond fop fringe and a black leather jacket with ‘Pete’ written on the back in round silver studs, Latimer was the school oddball – tormented, bullied and relentlessly beaten up.
It's not difficult to see where Morrissey drew his inspiration from - it's surprising that 'Pansy' Peter Latimer hasn't turned up on the cover of one of his records
‘Latimer, he’s a special case,’ says one teacher.
‘He’s not a bad lad,’ says another, ‘for a creep.’
Latimer was Britain’s first home-grown Neurotic Boy Outsider who wasn’t a singer or an actor. He was a bona fide internalised rebel; a teacher’s pet who hated games, an outsider who longed for acceptance.
It’s not difficult to see where Morrissey drew his inspiration from, and it’s surprising that ‘Pansy’ Pete hasn’t turned up on the cover of one of Morrissey’s records, a Northern role model to rival Pat Phoenix in Coronation Street or Albert Finney in Saturday Night And Sunday Morning.
There are few more classic pop archetypes than the Neurotic Boy Outsider...
