Barbaric Genius DVD

'Barbaric Genius' Director: Paul Duane (2011) Wildcard DVD

An intimate portrait charting the unpredictable life of John Healy – award-winning author, internationally distinguished chess player and erstwhile alcoholic vagrant. Following a violent upbringing by Irish parents in a London slum, Healy spent years drinking and brawling on the streets of London before publishing a memoir, The Grass Arena (1988), which though widely acknowledged as a masterpiece, was followed by a dramatic fall from grace and years in obscurity.

Special features include:

• Extended interview with writer and former Faber & Faber editor Robert McCrum