Tim Rice: Ite R I Lif

You are going to read an extract from the autobiography of the lyricist Tim Rice.
Seven paragraphs
have been removed from the extract. Choose from the paragraphs A- H the one which fits each gap
(1-6). There is one extra paragraph which you do not need to use.
TIM RICE
I was ushered into the young man's drawing room, an
oasis of cultured sanity surrounded by what appeared The next day, back at my desk in the office where I
to be a quite shambolic cluster of rooms in which the was trai ning to become a solicitor, the brief certainty I
less enterprising members of the family operated. had enjoyed of a life in show business with Andrew
Moving from the kitchen to his parlour was an upgrade Lloyd Webber had faded somewhat. I would of course
from economy to business class. continue to keep an eye on the small ads in Melody
Maker for groups needing a vocalist, and would turn
out a few more three-chord songs tailored not to
1 _____________________________________ expose the limitations of my voice, but it was still odds-
on that eventually I would stagger through my exams
His name was Andrew Lloyd Webber. He had won a and wind up a respectable lawyer by the time I was
scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, to read twenty-five.
history, and he had nine months to kill before going up,
during which time he intended to become England's
answer to the composer Richard Rodgers. 5. _____________________________________
But in the meantime I felt I had nothing to lose by

2. _____________________________________ seeing Andrew again. It would be fun to go and see a
musical with him, to write words that aped musical
Consequently, when Andrew suggested a lyricists rather than pop stars. And Andrew was a
completely new insane ambition for me, i.e. to fascinat ing individual who talked of Good Food
become as famous a lyricist as Oscar Hammerstein, Guides and Victorian architecture, besides supporting
I had no qualms about giving it a go. This was partly Ley ton Orient football team.
because within ten minutes of our introduction, he
was at the piano and had played me three tunes he
had composed - I could tell that he was good. Very 6. ____________________________________
good.
The idea was the life of Dr Thomas Barnardo, the
nineteenth century philanthropist who founded the
3. ____________________________________ orphanages that bear his name. His story was a
worthy one indeed, but not one that truly fired my
I had little to impress him with in return, other than imagination. The hero was too squeaky-clean, at least
instant praise for his music and a bona fide, actually in Andrew's version of his life, and the enterprise was
released, seven-inch single of a song I had written unoriginal in both conception and execution, owing far
(both words and music) with which an unknown pop too much to Lionel Bart's hit show, Oliver.
group had dealt the final blow to their moribund career
by recording three months previously. We parted,
promising to meet again and to write something 7. ____________________________________
together. I was still more interested in the charts than
in the West End theatre, but told myself on the bus I set to work with enormous enthusiasm, in particular
back to my flat that I had just met somebody of rare tor those songs that were intended to be funny
ability and determination, and I would be mad to miss Andrew outlined the plot, played me the tunes and in
out on being a sidekick to a chap who was clearly milny insl,mces gave me the title as well, most of
going to take the musical theatre by storm, probably which had presumably been thought up by his ex-
by next week. wordsmith school pal who had already had a go. I
skipped a day at the solicitors' office, faking illness, to
write my first batch of theatrical lyrics. I did not know
4. _____________________________________ it that day but I had changed careers.
A E
And even if the two of us failed to challenge the top I wasn't convinced by the idea for a musical that
musical composers successfully, then we could he had been working on lor the past year, but in
try to knock the Beatles and Rolling Stones off 1965 I was rarely convinced about anything. His
their perches later, in the summer. The Everly talent was beyond question and he claimed to
Brothers had just made a comeback and would have all the contacts. I was soon back in his
clearly be in need of some new material. drawing room.
B F
By then I would have surely grown out of pop My own ambitions were just as insane as his; I
music as my father had confidently predicted I wanted to be a pop star, for all the healthy reasons
would by the time I was twenty-one. This was - women, money and fame. The difference
worrying - if he was right I only had a few more between Andrew and myself was that my dreams
months of enjoying it. were never life or death to me, though it's easy to
say that now. They might have become so had I
C failed.
As he confidently continued to bash out selections
from some of the many shows he had written and G
produced at school, I was reminded of many of the On the other hand , Andrew's conviction of his
best show albums from my parenls' LP collection. score's precocious brilliance was infectious and
He needed a new lyricist for the outside world. not totally unjustified. What did I know about
musicals? As David Land, later to be my agent for
D over a quarter of a century, memorably (and
But it seemed to me that plenty of other blokes repeatedly) said, if there's a demand lor one
around my age (twenty) and not overburdened hamburger bar on the block, there is room for two.
with talent were making it and I wished to be of We could be the second hamburger joint.
their number. There were even guys from my
home town and from public schoot in the pop H
charts - Surely I had the qualifications. Here was the largest collection of records I had
ever seen, the first stereo record player and tuner
I had come across; and the astonishing evidence
that a teenager existed who had spent money on
Georgian wine glasses, pictures and furniture.

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You are going to read an extract from the autobiography of the lyricist Tim Rice.

But in the meantime I felt I had nothing to lose by

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