Shaun Ryder on highs, lows and Happy Mondays: 'Heroin isn't a party drug'

In 24 Hour Party Person Shaun Ryder recalls images of him and Bez that capture the excess and magnetism of Happy Mondays. He says the band was pulled together by neurodiversity: "When you are neurodiverse, you attract other people who are," and reflects that his brother Paul lacked the "H" in ADHD and often came across as lazy.

Diagnosed with ADHD in his 50s, Ryder says the diagnosis made sense of his past; he has been clean of heroin for 20 years and now takes Ritalin, which he calls "fantastic" because "I can concentrate." The memoir opens with childhood mischief — stealing toffees, starting fires, dropping bricks off a motorway bridge and other dares — and moves on to a teenage job running telegrams that arrived just in time to avert a court disqualification.

By 18 he had a foothold in the music business.

shaun ryder, happy mondays, bez, memoir, childhood mischief, adhd, ritalin, heroin, neurodiversity, music memoir