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With Ringo Starr, Barbara Bach & John Entwistle

LESLEY ANN JONES’

TUMBLING DICE

BY LYDIA WILKINS

You may not know her, but you will know the stories. many stories. I had to be selective, otherwise I would still
Lesley Ann Jones - known as ‘LA’ or ‘LAJ’ - is used to be writing the book. Suffice it to say that there are enough
writing biographies of music icons like Freddie Mercury chapters for a sequel and perhaps even a third volume.”
and David Bowie. For the first time, she has published a
personal memoir, Tumbling Dice. Tumbling Dice also touches on the issue of so-called ‘fake
news’. “We are told that we live in a post-truth era, in
At dinner parties, she would tell her repertoire of all she’d which few seem to care about the broad dissemination of
seen while working as a journalist. The stories of a Fleet misinformation, spurious claims and downright lies. Most
Street no longer in existence were destined to remain people blame it on the Internet and social media.” Noting
‘cocktail party fodder’. Jones says: “People would say how fact-checking seems redundant, complete with a
to me, ‘Never mind rock stars, you really should write a politicised press, she suggests the future of journalism
book about your own life!’” Time, inclination, or the nerve does seem bleak. But even in the age of typewriters and
to begin writing were all lacking, until several turning point shorthand, ‘fake news’ was still rife: “I have written in the
occurred. book about stories I was set to work on as a journalist that
were completely fabricated by rogue editors. Fake news
What is important to note about Tumbling Dice is the line is no new thing. It was important to me to show that it was
on its title page: “Because journalists are human too.” In a rife, even in those days.”
climate where the ‘mainstream media’ is constantly called
into question, the book looks back at when journalism When asked about if she had any regrets, the response
viewed as a respectable profession. Reflecting on the was interesting: “Regrets? Too few to mention, as the big
fallout of the phone hacking story and the Leveson Inquiry, guy sang. ‘I wish I hadn’t done/said/married so-and-so’?
Jones laments the change in attitudes to journalists: “I’m Yeah, but you did. Regretfulness won’t change history. I
still tarred with the same brush. We are all ‘scumbag have learned the hard way not to waste time on it.
hacks’: reptilian thugs, devoid of conscience, who will sell
our own grandmother for the price of a splash headline. I “We all do what we have to do at the time to get by. The
wanted to remind people that journalists are as human as decisions we made at a particular point in our lives were
anybody else.” made according to the life we were living right there and
then, our personal circumstances, and whoever else was
More than just a kiss-and-tell book, or a glamourised involved. We can’t change what’s done, but we can learn
biography, Tumbling Dice is also Jones’ story. It details from it.”
how she ‘landed’ on Fleet Street, her family background
and what has happened since. Asked what is not included Lesley Ann Jones comes to Brighton’s Komedia on Thurs
in the book, she tells me: “Goodness, there were just so 1 Aug . Her book, Tumbling Dice, is available now.

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