‘My wife sends me sleep bubbles’: The extraordinary world of Pete Townshend

When most rock stars have trouble sleeping, they fall back on Valium, temazepam, heroin or Jack Daniel’s. But Pete Townshend, guitarist and songwriter for The Who and — we’re pleased to discover — Spectator subscriber, isn’t much like most rock stars. Sober now for three decades, he calls instead on his wife Rachel’s psychic powers.

‘Sometimes,’ he says, ‘when I’m having difficulty sleeping, Rachel — who has some… certainly, some kind of healing powers — will say to me, “Do you want me to send you a sleep bubble?” Now, I often go’ — he mimes squirming like a reluctant child — ‘“No, of course I don’t need you to send me a bloody sleep bubble! I’ll just take more codeine.”’

Not very rock’n’roll, is it? ‘No, it’s not very rock’n’roll. But I go, “Yes, darling, that would be lovely. Thank you.” And my head hits the pillow and I black out.