Sarfraz Manzoor

I am in New York for The Culture Show for whom I am filming two reports on The Onion and Platon. More about both them later, possibly. On my first day in New York I found myself in Barnes and Noble bookstore in the audience watching Molly Ringwald give a reading from her new book. Molly fucking Ringwald! Molly who I watched in The Breakfast Club back in 1986. Molly who remains the only redhead I have ever found attractive. It was stupidly surreal to be sitting there looking at this 42 year old woman speaking and wondering to myself how it happened that I am in the same room as Molly Ringwald. Later when it came to ask questions I just had to put my hand up. So I did and eventually I was picked and I spoke to Molly. 'Your films helped so many of us get through our teens' I said 'have they helped you as an adult and as a parent?' She looked thoughtful and said that while at the moment her daughter is only 6 and therefore too young to watch those films in a few years she would and then that question would arise. She also said that it was a great question. So there you have it, I shared a tiny moment and a brief connection with Molly Ringwald. For a few minutes she looked at me and knew I existed. Oh to be able to go back to that teenager in Luton watching a pirated copy of The Breakfast Club, wondering if he was ever going to find his own Molly. Oh to be able to tell him that twenty four years later he would be in New York, working for the BBC and getting a chance to talk to Molly Ringwald.