Sod-buster: a life well-lived
By Mike Senior (July 2003)
Born in Neasden the son of a Cossack trapeze artist, Sebastian Sod-Buster ran away from his parents’ caravan aged ten. He next surfaced in Paris where he lived the Bohemian life – painting, composing poetry and music and bell-ringing in Notre-Dame. But even Paris could not hold Sod-Buster and he next appeared in Berlin in the 1980s. His time there was full of night-clubs and, some believe, counter-espionage. He was no stranger to Check-Point Charlie. Then on to London where his linguistic skills, charisma and intimate knowledge of the darker side of European life fitted him ideally for the post of Foreign Editor on The London Times. The “Thunderer”, however, proved inadequate as a vehicle for Sod-Buster’s talents and it was only when he joined the Newsletter as an assistant on the Gardening desk that he found the journalistic challenge he had so long sought...
His articles in the Newsletter have been described as gems of forbidden literature. His work was the product of a mind uncluttered by the normal rules of logic. Lack of clarity was his strong-point. Mystery lurked behind every syllable. To Sod-Buster, sentence construction and punctuation were as baubles to be used or flung aside at whim. It was this joyous burst of untrammelled talent that endeared him to his faithful public. His disappearance is mourned by all who read him. Will we ever see his like again?