(Credit: David Squires)
Sun 7 September 2025 11:14, UK
They say that life is brighter when you’ve made something beautiful that wasn’t there before. It’s hard to say that Van Morrison has subscribed to that viewpoint over the years.
As the controversial Belfast boomer’s clock ticks over to 80 years, cartoonist David Squires is delving into his cantankerous character and classic capers.
The ‘Sweet Thing’ singer has certainly written some of the softest, most beautiful tracks ever created, beginning with his days in Them, peaking with Astral Weeks, and weaving through a plethora of creative ups and downs. But that softness is not all that apparent when it comes to his prickly public persona.
Mr Morrison was once even known to land his private helicopter just behind the Greenpeace tent at the environmentally focussed Green Man festival, not blink an eye at the backlash, and then deliver a performance as smooth as buttered silk.
Squires serves up a smattering of such quips in the comic strip below.
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