Happy 70th Birthday Wilfred Sheed

Wilfred Sheed was born this day, 70 years ago in London. A survivor of polio which hit him at the age of 14 , a reformed alcoholic and pill addict, and victim of cancer.

A little regarded known but gifted writer who recently chronicled the American songwriters of the Golden Age in "THE HOUSE THAT GEORGE BUILT - With a Little Help From Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty." Random House. $29.95. Published: July 22, 2007 and reviewed by Garrison Keillor, NYT

His first book "A Middle Class Education " (1961) was about his time as a student at Oxford and amongst many others, My Life As a Fan (1993), about his love of baseball especially the Mets.

Also responsible for the penetrating observation "The American male doesn't mature until he has exhausted all other possibilities."And this, his opening line from a review of A. Alvarez’s The Savage God: “Books about suicide make lousy gifts.” On Organized crime: “As with God in the last Middle Ages, all that there is to know about the Mafia seems to be known by now, except whether it actually exists.” (Essays in Disguise)

Books available at Amazon here New York Review of Books Bibliography here many more quotes here

PS Barbara Olson was born 52 years ago, she was a passenger on Flight 77 on 9/11.