To the long list of infractions committed by Keith Richards let's add another: astronomical unpaid library fines.
Mr. Richards, in an interview with The Mirror, confessed that more than 50 years ago, as a teenager, he failed to return a number of books to his local library in Dartford, England, resulting in fines that British newspapers estimated would now have compounded to anywhere from £3,000 to £20,000 (about $4,500 to $30,000).
A librarian in Dartford told The Daily Mail it would not normally issue fines greater than £100, or about $150. But whatever the figure, there are reasons to believe the famously rule-flouting Mr. Richards might yet bow before the law of the library.
Early leaks from his best-selling 2011 memoir, “Life,†had journalists buzzing over the news that he once considered becoming a librarian and more recently sought “professional training†in the Dewey Decimal System to manage his large personal collections. And in a quotation featured on many a library Web site, Mr. Richards is reported to have said: “When you are growing up, there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equalizer.â€
