Life After Release
Following his release from prison, Marks published a best-selling autobiography, Mr Nice (Secker and Warburg, 1996), which has been translated into several languages. In addition to Mr Nice, he compiled an anthology called The Howard Marks Book of Dope Stories (Vintage, 2001) and more recently a follow-on from his autobiography; Señor Nice: Straight Life From Wales to South America. Señor Nice differs from his previous book as drugs are not central to the story and, while autobiographical, the book is more Marks's own exploration of his ancestor, the pirate Sir Henry Morgan. In 2011 he penned a thriller entitled Sympathy for the Devil. His ex-partner, Judy Marks, has also written her autobiography of their life together entitled Mr Nice and Mrs Marks; published by Ebury Press in 2006. The couple split in 2003, and divorced in 2005.
Marks stood for election to the UK Parliament in 1997, on the single issue of the legalization of cannabis. He contested four seats at once: Norwich South (against future Home Secretary Charles Clarke), Norwich North, Neath and Southampton Test; he picked up around 1% of the vote. This led to the formation of the Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA) by Alun Buffry in 1999; the party reformed as the Cannabis Law Reform in 2011.
He has also argued for the legalization of cannabis in numerous television programmes in the United Kingdom. On 1 October 2010, he was interviewed on Ireland's The Late Late Show. He has acted in gangster movie Killer Bitch, starred in 2009 film I Know You Know, appeared as Satan in the 2006 movie adaptation of Dirty Sanchez, and had a cameo appearance in the 1999 film Human Traffic.
In the music world, he has appeared as a guest on the BBC music quiz show Never Mind the Buzzcocks. He has also collaborated with Welsh group Super Furry Animals on their album Fuzzy Logic and on their singles The Man Don't Give a Fuck and Ice Hockey Hair. He also features on the album Angel Headed Hip Hop with Lee Harris and River Styx. He has also worked with former Happy Mondays guitarist Kav Sandhu, and has appeared at numerous British music festivals, including: Glastonbury (2009 & 2011), Beautiful Days, RockNess, Camp Bestival, Kendal Calling, and the Sonisphere Festival. In 2012, he was featured on the Reverend & The Makers track MDMAzing on their most recent album @Reverend Makers.
He is also the subject of a biopic entitled Mr. Nice, named after his autobiography of the same name. Released in October 2010, the film features Rhys Ifans as Marks, and Chloë Sevigny as his wife Judy.
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Famous quotes containing the words life and/or release:
“Your mother named you. You and she just saw
Each other in passing in the room upstairs,
One coming this way into life, and one
Going the other out of life you know?”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“We read poetry because the poets, like ourselves, have been haunted by the inescapable tyranny of time and death; have suffered the pain of loss, and the more wearing, continuous pain of frustration and failure; and have had moods of unlooked-for release and peace. They have known and watched in themselves and others.”
—Elizabeth Drew (1887–1965)