Morrissey was a musical and cultural icon in the 80s. His band "The Smiths" effectively wrote anthems of working class lamentations. The honesty of his songs hits right at the heart of the everyman on his daily travails.

Even after the band's break-up, Morrissey's solo career has been legendary. He recently released his own memoir, simply titled "Autobiography."

Some of the shocking revelations in his book:

Morrissey was almost kidnapped in Mexico. After a show in Tijuana in September 2007, the driver of their car veered off the highway and into a dark road just when they were minutes away from the US border. He and his security guard were able to leave the car and they were in the middle of nowhere.

He was summoned by British Police for his song "Margaret on the Guillotine." The Special Branch brought him in for questioning "so that they might gauge whether or not I pose a security threat to Margaret Thatcher." The meeting was civil and he ended up signing an autograph before he was released. That was the end of the matter.

Renowned rock critic Nick Kent once asked to join The Smiths. When The Smiths lost their guitarist Johnny Marr, Nick Kent wrote a letter to Morrissey:   "I am not a good self-salesman, but I can confidently boast an encyclopaedic knowledge of the chord structures, dynamics etc of Johnny's contributions to date ... Being musically associated with your very good self would signify the very apex of my crusade for immortality."

Morrissey wasn't always a geek. He was actually a teenage athlete: "By accident I am enlisted to represent the school in track events for the 100 metres and the 400 metres for which, unthinkably, I receive schoolboy medals." And so begins a period in which "I am obliged to feel honoured and to dream of the 14-second dash, or the one-minute 400." (book quotes from The Guardian)