I met Alan Rickman in 1967 when I was a journalist, setting up an “alternative” local paper in Notting Hill, west London. Alan was training to be a graphic artist and came on board as the paper’s designer. We shared the same politics and became good friends. I admired him for his beliefs and activism, and not just his acting.
The debut issue of the paper attracted some attention, and Alan’s first appearance on screen was therefore in a television news item, in which he was shown sitting on the floor of my flat gluing together a layout of the paper. The glue slurped onto the carpet and stubbornly stayed there for many years afterwards. But it at least gave my wife and me something to show guests over the next few decades as we pointed out our enduring connection with the great actor.
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