Borrissey

Former lead singer of The Smiths and icon of the era in which both Simon and Mark were forging their respective careers. Låt Den Rätte Komma In, one of Mark's favourite films of recent times, took its name from one of his lyrics.

Whenever Mark refers to Morrissey, he does so in the adenoided voice of Melvyn Bragg, who once cued up a South Bank Show item in which "Borrissey and Barr from The Sbiths introduce their new albub, Beat Is Burder."

Mark quoted Elvis Costello on Morrissey when considering the chapter titles in Inglourious COUGHING: "He has gotten into the habit of coming up with a title and then forgetting to write a song to go with it."

Borrissey's 2017 comeback song Spent The Day In Bed was so bad - its hysterical refrain "stop watching the news!" in particular - that Mark declared he actually preferred U2.