I’ve just been reading ‘Limelight and Shadows’, the privately printed compendium of episodes from the extraordinary life of my friend Anthony Brady of Blaisdon writes Dave Kent.

You can take the boy out of Blaisdon, but you can’t take Blaisdon out of the boy. Anthony Brady’s book is not an autobiography. It’s a series of short sketches about his colourful life in the East End of London and much of the world beyond, and of the famous people that he had some connection with, before returning in retirement to the village.

He is a published poet. He worked as a nurse, social worker and public health specialist in England and abroad. He had planned or unplanned encounters with many celebrities in many different fields, often very brief, which he records with great shameless name-dropping detail. You may be amazed, as I was, at the great number of famous names in sport, medicine, politics, the London underworld, literature and the arts who crossed Anthony’s path.

The blurb on the back of this book challenges readers to unravel the author’s motives, limelight or shadows, to be famous or inconspicuous. It comes to a satisfyingly ambiguous conclusion.

In his early years in Blaisdon he was a talented footballer, playing for the Salesian School at Blaisdon and then for Longhope. He believes that a training session with Manchester United supervised by United’s manager at the time, Jimmy Murphy, would have led to a future as a professional footballer. But a serious injury playing for Longhope immediately after this great opportunity ended his football career. Jimmy Murphy, the protégé of the great Matt Busby, is the first of the many celebrities who crossed Anthony’s path.

In the 1960s he moved to the London’s East End, to work as a nurse and a social services professional. The East End was then the centre of a criminal underworld, dominated by the Kray brothers, brutal and unforgiving, with many people that you would not wish to annoy. Anthony, as a trusted and dedicated medic, was able to navigate his way safely around this dangerous world. The Kray brothers seem to have given him some guarantee of safety. He reveals, astonishingly, that there were many celebrities from various apparently legitimate fields who hung out in this dangerous world of gangsters, politicians, boxers and other celebrities. Anthony was able to carry out his medical and social duties undisturbed.

In London, Anthony was not just a nurse, but as a senior social services officer was involved in the regeneration of the neglected East End, with its high levels of homelessness, crime and poverty. A colleague was John Profumo, who became a social worker in the area as some sort of redemption after a great scandal of 1963 that ruined his promising political career. Anthony worked with him in developing plans for the regeneration of the area and to provide support for the homeless and needy. This support included providing advice, day centres, access to the arts, and permanent or temporary housing. He also worked at the great East End London charitable institution Toynbee Hall.

This organisation was founded 1880s and is named after Arnold Toynbee, one of a famous dynasty of reformers, writers and philosophers. Philip Toynbee, one of this dynasty, created a hippie community on St Briavels Common that flourished briefly in the 1970s and 1980s, and he may still be remembered as an occasional visitor to the George, the village pub.

Anthony’s acquaintances in the theatrical world include Margaret Lockwood, Glenda Jackson, Ralph Richardson, and the genial television personality Eammon Andrews. I suspect that not all of these celebrities will recall their brief meetings with Anthony, so perhaps he may not crop up in their memoirs. There was a chance meeting with Brigitte Bardot, a meeting which may have featured more prominently in Anthony’s memories than in Brigitte’s. A walk on role in an amateur play performance by Anthony attracted the attention of Alec Guinness and John Gielgud. Cliff Richard and Mary Whitehouse, the guardians of the nation’s morals at the time, advised Anthony to turn to Jesus.

Anthony has many anecdotes about his contacts in the world of entertainment. He describes a conversation with Albert Finney, with some more shameless name dropping. I must intervene at this point with some shameless name dropping on my part (it’s quite contagious). I played football with Tom Courtney, the other great English actor from the 1960s. We played for Soho in London’s Sunday morning football league. Tom was a light and slippery inside forward, and I was goalkeeper. As a poor student I couldn’t buy my round at the pub after the game, so Tom lent me a fiver, which I haven’t yet got round to repaying, and will probably never have the opportunity to return.

Anthony was on first name terms with (Sir) Magdi Habib Yacoub, the famous surgeon and heart specialist, through his work in the health service in the East End. His political acquaintances were (Red) Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, and Bruce Kent (no relation) from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. He was introduced to the King when the King was Prince Charles. And, most surprisingly, John Paul Getty, the Anglophile American philanthropist, makes an appearance in a cricket sweater.

In addition to all this, he spent many years abroad working in the health sector of countries that needed his professional expertise.

He writes gentle, moving and often humorous verses on love and nature.

After all this action and his celebrity-packed life, Anthony Brady has now returned to Blaisdon.

Limelight and Shadows is – either an outrageous anthology of meetings with celebrities and dodgy people in crime, broadcasting, entertainment and politics - or the celebration of a life dedicated to improving the lives of disadvantaged people.

Perhaps both.

‘Limelight and Shadows’, with Anthony’s works of poetry ‘Homage to a Teacher (I)’, Homage to a Teacher (II) and ‘By Time Endeared the More’ are delightfully and elegantly published. They have been published privately, and may perhaps be purchased on-line through Amazon.