The theme of "Ta for the Memories" is the importance of one's past. The past will always affect you, even though it is not there anymore. For most people there are of course some experiences or adventures, which they will never forget, but they don't necessarily influence their lives. It is more the past life in whole, and in particular the childhood, which affects you all through your life. In "Ta for the Memories" Edith is the one on whom the past has had and has a positive affect, while Kenny's past has influenced him in such a negative way, that he has become an alcoholic living alone and having forgotten most of his past because of the drugs he has taken.
Another important aspect of the text is how the media can some times give people the impression that pop stars, or other famous people, live perfect lives. They show us their huge houses, sumptuous wardrobes etc. But what they don't show us is what's behind all this, and what their lives are really like. The media can often idealize these well-known persons, and that is what they have done to Kenny in "Ta for the memories".
"Ta for the memories" was written in 1994, and because of this and since the program "Top of the pops" is mentioned (a program which still runs on BBC) I believe the story takes place in the early 90's. Most of the story takes place in Kenny's house in Nice in South France, but we start out at the old publishing firm in London where Edith works. It is as if we are presented to two completely different worlds. There is Kenny's world in Nice, and then there is Edith's world in London. Edith and Kenny, the calm girl with a good past and the drug addict who remembers little of his sad past, are the two principal characters of the story, and that emphasizes the contrast between these two ways of living.
Kenny is a very well known British pop star. Because of his nickname "Loathsome" which means hideous or disgusting, we get the impression that he is an unattractive person.
