Stuart MaconieRecensioni

Over the years, I've enjoyed Stuart Maconie's radio shows and, perhaps to a lesser extent, his other books. Not this one.
It is truly awful. The high concept is fairly flawed, but the execution is deplorable. Pompous and preposterous in the extreme, the repetitive narrative circles around a few themes and groups without making much sense. I will still look fondly on his other output, but I was glad this was over. As, I suspect, was he.½

Excellent read. A thoughtful account of his own journey. A mixture of travelogue and historical and political account. It celebrates the good of England and what unites the country and acknowledges those who have little and are seldom heard. He rejects on Brexit and Donald Trump and how 2016 was similar to 1936 when the Jarrow folk marched to London.

Had a laugh. But there wasn't enough of a structure so it all bumbled on rather and I had to skip a lot of the last chapters to get to the end.

I had high hopes for this one, but had to skip through a lot of the chapters as the author seemed to go on endlessly. I was not familiar with many of the names and places he mentions, since I am not British. I liked the chapters about music and literature. Definitely not Bill Bryson.

Eighty-two years ago around 200 men set off from the Tyneside town of Jarrow to march to London. The reason for this was to protest at the closure of Palmer's shipyard that had affected everyone's livelihoods in the town. Calling themselves crusaders, they were carrying a petition to the government of day asking for a new industry to be created in the town. Back in the 1930's it was nothing like it was today, the world was in a global depression, there was the rise of right-wing political interests, a stark north/south divide, food banks and indifference from the political elite; err hang on…

It is through modern England that Stuart Maconie wants to retrace the march that the Jarrow Crusaders followed stopping in the cities that they did, seeking the places that supported them with food and provisions, seeing how many people know of anything about their story and to take the pulse of a just post-Brexit Britain. Whilst some things remain the same, there is a lot that has changed in the UK in that short period of time; gone are the big industries, mines and manual jobs that the north relied on and in their place are service jobs, disillusionment and high unemployment.

Maconie is one of those guys who can talk to almost anyone and in this book he does, from waiters to mums, healthy debates in pubs and even gets invited to an event with the leader of the opposition. He is prepared to say it how it is, how even now the north still is massively underfunded compared to the south-east of the country, how the London bubble distorts the economy and how there is much more community spirit the further from London you get. As usual, he writes with deft humour and his keen eyes observe the subtleties as he moves through the country at walking pace. As some have complained about the number of times he has mentioned food in previous books, he takes special care to ensure we know exactly what he has eaten. So you will read about a few curries, several beers and the odd dram or three and one of the best pork pies he has ever eaten. This is another thoroughly enjoyable book from Maconie and if you have read his others you will almost certainly like this.

When you think of the North of England an industrial landscape would come to mind, with the factories, mills and heavy industry. It is a hardworking place; but it knows how to have a good time and play hard too. Maconie decides that he needs to dust off his suit, polish his shoes and go out on the town in search of a good time.

Using the best intelligence that he can get, Maconie travels round the north, revisiting the classic haunts of leisure from Blackpool to the dogs, football and rugby of course. Any day off is enhanced by going out for a curry before walking it all off with a stroll across the moors. He hears a brass band, before trying something out of the ordinary and after all that needs a restorative pint.

This is another good book and kind of a companion book to The Pie at Night by Maconie as he travels back and forwards across the North finding out what they do in their leisure time. It is not particularly challenging to read, mostly as he writes in such an easy going and chatty way. That does not mean that he is not perceptive and it is laugh out loud in places too, as he has a knack of getting to the spirit of the event he is partaking in whilst not taking it too seriously. Another one of his that was worth reading.

This is a collection of Maconies articles and essays from The Country Walking magazine.

It is written with his usual wit and humour, and will make you chuckle. He is very passionate about walking, and he wants everyone who reads these to understand and share that passion. The articles cover the right to roam, land art, maps and the pure joy of climbing a hill and soaking in the view.

The only thing I didn't like was the padding in the book. Every title page was a whole page, and as the essays were only around two and half pages long as well, it seemed excessive!

Another good book from Maconie. Interesting trawl around the north

Excellent and insightful book about significant places and events in British History. Written with the usual Maconie humour as well.

Funny, clever and interesting. This book added to my list of places I want to visit.

Had a laugh. But there wasn't enough of a structure so it all bumbled on rather and I had to skip a lot of the last chapters to get to the end.

I'm a fan of Stuart Maconie, I bought a DAB radio when he moved to 6 Music. But in this one, he's not at his best. He's a self proclaimed northerner and this book is described as a companion piece to his earlier book, Pies and Prejudice: In search of the North. In that book he searches the country for where the North begins (Crewe, apparently), whereas in this he looks for what the people of the North do to have fun.
I like the way he throws himself into the different activities, getting involved and getting close to the people attending, not just showing up at the top of the table clashes, but those at the grass roots level. He spends time talking to the people and understanding their passions. That he does really well.
All well and good. But it falls a little flat, for me, in that I'm not sure I see many of the occupations as, now, being distinctively northern. There was also a bit of an anti southern chip that seemed more evident in this book than I have noticed previously. Not enough to make it unenjoyable, but enough to take the edge off.

I didn't take to it at first - seemed a bit of a superficial way to treat such a serious subject - but it won me over by its warmth and genuine interest in working-class life and concerns.

Stuart Maconie's writing is excellent, he makes me laugh and think and this is a marvellous gift. He tells me things about the north I didn't know and reminds me of places I have enjoyed visiting. He strings together wonderful stories of day trips and visits and does this very well.

Read about 100 pages of it. Too many colloquialisms, too much about soccer and rock music from the 1980s and 1990s.

Despite my (apparently) dismissive comments when shopping in a bookshop a few weeks ago; I did enjoy this book - it would be somewhere between "I liked it" and "I really liked it". What prevents it getting the full 4 points is less to do with the book and more to do with my reaction to nostalgia.
Maconie takes a nominal day from each decade of the 20th Century and in a series of 10 essays, uses that as a starting point to discuss British values. There is a lot in the book, the general themes include the (seemingly more popular) anti-anti-PC backlash, nice cups of tea (or latte), a good walk and a fair amount of Trade Union history, which I knew very little about (my knowledge of Hunger Marches was mostly from Elizabeth Gaskell's North & South), but I suspect that if it was a topic I was interested in it would feel woefully shallow.
However, the starting point for the final chapter was the 1997 General Election day, in Sedgefield there was a local politician, Tony Blair standing. I did vote that day, and for the Liberal Democrat candidate as some sort of alternative to the two main parties. I know I did watch the election results until some point in the night, but don't remember whether it was at home, or in the neighbouring constituency of my Mum's house.
The descriptions of Sedgefield though were a wave of nostalgia for me, I only lived there for three years, and the names of the pubs brought back whole chunks of memory... and Bolams! I lived on one side of Bolams, and worked on the other side in a plastics factory. The breakfast butty, a large bap containing a full english breakfast... mmm... OK, four stars :)

Mildly amusing,more raise a smile than laugh out loud.Chose it because I had read [b:Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North|765768|Pies and Prejudice In Search of the North|Stuart Maconie|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1178158984s/765768.jpg|751839] and had really liked that but in comparision this was disappointing.As for the claim that he is the english Bill Bryson I don't think so

For those who don't know him, Stuart Maconie is (or certainly should be) an English national treasure. Chiefly known as a broadcaster on BBC radio's rock music station, his talents range more widely in journalism, broadcasting and, particularly travel writing. For the best example of his work, I'd recommend 'Pies and Prejudice', his book about his travels round the North of England.
This book is a collection of his columns published in 'Country Walking' magazine. If you're a keen walker, or even if you're not, these very short essays are easy to dip into. Not the least of the pleasures is the sparkling wit and his infectious enthusiasm conveyed in a very non-anorak way.

Very well written, entertaining book, merging interesting stories of classic pop songs with the recent history of Britain.

This books has an interesting surmise, he takes one event in each decade and proposes how that has shaped us as a nation. That one date then spawns a further discussion and related events and he visits the relevant locations to see what traces remain.
I thought this a little more patchy than some of his other books; I suppose by nature of the way the book is organised it was always potential for that to happen. I think that in this book his politics colour the text more than I have noticed it doing in earlier books. So in the 90s, he rejoices at the Labour election, while bemoaning the fact that politics is, once again, the preserve of the elite and the privately educated. While he mentions that the 4 previous Prime Ministers had been from working class stock, he fails to note that they had also all been Grammar school educated - an educational option Labour have done their best to bring down. Architects of their own demise, one could say. Although I do agree with him that it is a retrograde step.
I liked the way that he visits the places to see the location for himself. I also like the way that the event in the decade is not looked at in isolation - it is compared and contrasted to events in earlier and later decades, looking at the echoes that ripple through history. And, best of all, I like the way that his day from the 80s is Live Aid. I know where I was on 13July 1985. I watched the entire thing on the TV, and I do remember it being a scorcher. 12 noon until the wee small hours. Dad stayed up with me to watch. It is, for me and my generation, one of those memorable moments; we know where we were, we watched it and it marked us. I was only allowed to stay up that late if I was doing something useful. At the time my parents made toys and they would save the off cuts of material to be cut into small pieces to be used to stuff the toys. It used to be called "cutting scraps" and there were always scraps to cut. Well I know that I finished cutting every last scrap we had long before it finished.
Some reviewers have mentioned a lack of accuracy, but I would dispute that it is error strewn. Possibly they had been corrected in the paperback edition I read, but those mentioned in other reviewers seemed correct to me (and I don't care if he got the footie facts wrong). Not, maybe, his best work.

I quite like Maconie's writings - no Orwell he, but he's a genial and amusing companion around interesting places. But, lord, lord, the mistakes! Do yourself a favour, Stuart, and hire a competent research assistant, who could put you straight as to what direction Gateshead is from Newcastle, which bank of the Tyne Jarrow is on, how many countries from outside Europe played in the World Cup finals before North Korea did (even if you meant first country from East Asia, South Korea played in 1954), the dominant religion in Ethiopia ... I could go on. Actually, I think I will: the bridge used by the Metro to cross the Tyne, the name of the trophy Wigan Athletic were runners up in (NOT winners of) in 1973, the number of football clubs there have been in Accrington (you sure you're a football fan, Stuart?), Queen Victoria's first name ... The book even starts with a bogus quote from Mao Zedong.

Two stars off for shoddy research.½

As amusing and likeable as Maconie's books always are. I don't much share his musical taste, but he is quite refreshingly honest (for a music journo) about liking and having liked some very uncool stuff. Perhaps most interesting in what is not said: there are several people he worked with on the NME who are mentioned, but not described or dealt with at all. Read into this what you will. Usual crop of badly researched mistakes .. really, is even 5 minutes on Wikipedia too much, Stuart?

I admit to being biased, I love Stuart Maconie. When he moved from radio 2 to 6 music, I pestered my husband for a DB radio, so I could continue to listen to him. And this manages to be him, but in print. Some books you can almost hear them being read - and this is one of them. I love the wry humour, the little jokes, the erudite references and the observational quality of the writing. Never short of a good anecdote this book tells of his encounters in music, from attending a Beetles concert (aged 3) to leaving NME as a assistant editor in the early 90s.It takes in all sorts of music along the way, some if it memorable, others less so. I can't say that I remember a lot of the bands mentioned - he's about 10 years older than me and clearly wasn't a teenage girl in the 80s who worshiped at the shrine of the New Romantics - but then we all make musical choices we come to regret in later years. But even not being fans of the same thing doesn't stop this being highly entertaining. I imagine it might not have the widest appeal of any book, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and had a good giggle at it.

I have never really come across Stuart Maconie very often - he started writing for the New Musical Express after I stopped reading it regularly, and over the last twenty or thirty years I have very rarely listened to music radio, where he has carved out his own niche. I had seen him a few times in talking head role on music documentaries, and had always found him amusing, and had also noticed that his judgement on whatever artist was being discussed seemed close to my own.

Then I read his book, Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North, which I enjoyed - in this he managed to eulogise many aspects of living in the northern part of England without falling into the easy option of simply slagging off those in the "poncey south". I also appreciated his wry, observant humour.

I was, therefore, looking forward to this music-based memoir, though I was also conscious that too often recently I have found myself disappointed after allowing myself high expectations. Happily, that was not the case here. This book is very amusing yet also informative. I think that Maconie is perhaps a couple of years older than I am, and I identified very closely with his own story, and could claim many shared perspectives. He grew up in Wigan, often seen as something as a backwater by people from the south of England, though it should be remembered that the Wigan Casino was voted the world's best nightclub during the Northern Soul era in the late 1970s (and that was up in competition with venues as widely-lauded as New York's Studio 54). I grew up in North Leicestershire which was then (and is now, to be honest) a bit of a musical backwater, too, with Kasabian the only local band to make it big in any worthwhile manner (well, I am NOT going to dwell on Showaddywaddy!), so I could appreciate his feeling that he was sometimes away from the main flow. Both of us encountered bands and artists that would become firm favourites through the medium of John Peel's show.

Maconie seemed to have had an early start to his music-listening career. One of his earliest memories was of hearing The Beatles on the radio, and he even went to see the Fab Four while still not more than a toddler when they played a gig in Wigan shortly after their first tour of America in 1964. in fact, they played two gigs - in those days bands generally did two shows each night! That is two more Beatles gigs than Loughborough can claim!

I was surprised to read that he had gone through a progressive rock phase early on. I … or, rather, "a friend of mine" … may have dwelt in Yesland or Camelville for a while too, before passing through punk and new wave to a clearer understanding of the multiplicity of rock and roll genres.

Maconie writes very engagingly and laconically, and when he pronounces judgement on musicians he does so from an informed perspective. He has been a professional journalist for many years now, and writes with an economy that does not impinge upon his message. I was particularly intrigued to learn that it was Maconie who started the now endemic urban myth that Bob Holness played saxophone on "Baker Street". Holness seemed to take this in good part - I once saw him asked about this in an interview. Staring straight at the camera Bob denied it, adding, with a wry grin, "… but I did play lead guitar on Layla!"

All in all this was a very enjoyable read, perhaps of particular interest to those born in the early 1960s.½

Maconie is a columnist, radio personality and travel writer from the Northern town of Wigan. In this book he travels from his adopted home of London, in the South, to all places North. He goes to inland towns and villages and along much of the Northern coast, stopping at lots of apparently ugly places filled with rude people, but he does like a couple of places and more importantly, he imparts information, like why people in Newcastle are called "Geordies" and why Liverpool and Manchester put so much effort into football rivalry.
I've read another by Maconie, Adventures on the High Teas: In Search of Middle England and liked that one a little more, probably because it included a lot more music history, but this was a good one.