A decade ago, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of his death, I interviewed the only woman the young Philip Lynott ever really loved: Belfast-born Gale Claydon. Gale had always refused requests for interviews about her relationship with Phil. Her name rarely appeared in any Thin Lizzy biographies, except Phil’s mum Philomena Lynott’s My Boy. But Gale and I had a personal connection: she had been the producer of Monsters Of Rock, the weekly Sky TV show I presented in the late 80s.
Unruly circumstances beyond my control meant that only a fraction of what we discussed that day made it into print. What follows is the story that should have run then but is no less fascinating now, 10 years later.
