When Michael Jackson famously started wearing face masks, many took it as evidence that the great man had succumbed to the windmills of his mind. Yet three decades later it seems that in this respect, along with his other immense talents, he was a man ahead of his time. Just like ‘Thriller’ and just like the ‘Moonwalk’ – masks have become a societal norm.

Jackson was a man plagued by fear and doubt, ostensibly abused throughout his childhood yet worshipped like a God by his admirers to the point where he dislocated from virtually all normal social interaction.