Autobiography
The Place That Knows Me
On sale end of April – pre-order now
A Memoir – by Richard Hines
Richard Hines seemed destined for a life without academic achievement until he read TH White’s The Goshawk. And having then borrowed another falconry book from the library, he began to train Kes, the kestrel he found nesting in 16th-century ruins.
Thus, as a teenager, began an obsession with hawks and a love of nature that – along with meeting his art student wife Jackie – took him in new directions… deputy head teacher, documentary maker, independent producer for the BBC and Channel 4, and university lecturer and writer among them.
Richard’s schoolboy experiences and love of hawks inspired older brother Barry to write A Kestrel for a Knave, a novel that was soon turned into the much-loved and truly iconic 1969 film Kes, directed by Ken Loach.
In 2016, the brothers’ upbringing in Hoyland Common, South Yorkshire, were turned by Richard into a factual book of his own: No Way but Gentlenesse: A Memoir of How Kes, My Kestrel, Changed My Life.
But time moves on. Richard and Jackie are these days grandparents – and about to pull up their Yorkshire roots to live near their now grown-up son, daughter and granddaughter in Hove on the Sussex coast.
Will their heritage let them go?
“Richard communicates his passion for the landscape of his home town with great warmth…” – Ken Loach
Call the Police – There’s a Comedian Around
A Funny – and Tragic – Memoir of Life in the Met
by Paul Byrne
Paul Byrne joined London’s Metropolitan Police by mistake. By day a Detective Inspector, by night a stand-up comedian, this is a memoir of law enforcement not exactly going to plan. DI Byrne walked a tightrope of death, destruction and disaster, much of it caused by himself. From a near-death experience at the hands of the Australian SAS to causing a diplomatic incident with North Korea, it was a hell of a ride. Yet sucked into a dark and troubling whirlpool of police corruption, eventually he would be forced out of the service a broken man. Paul remains the only serving police officer to be mugged on duty – and the only one to be sacked for writing satire. His story shines an amusing, and at times horrifying, light into the darkest corners of Britain’s largest police force.
“A fascinating account – full of tragic and hilarious stories shot through with Byrne’s wonderful appreciation of the absurdity of life…” – ARTHUR SMITH
Revelations of a TV Director – Royston Mayoh
by Royston Mayoh
Never the Easy Option – The Gareth Ellis Story
The Gareth Ellis Story – with Vince Groak
Wrestling in Honey
The Selected Writings of Martin Kelner
With an introduction by Gary Lineker
‘By popular demand’ is one of those phrases like ‘we must do lunch’ and ‘your delivery will arrive between 9.00am and 10.00am’ that we have learned to take with a pinch of salt.
But in the case of the pieces in this book it is arguably true.
Admittedly, we only have the author’s word for it, but he swears that barely a week goes by – okay, a fortnight – without him receiving an email or a Tweet asking why an adoring public can’t enjoy his gimlet-eyed take on broadcast sport and addiction to half-remembered street jokes in the press or online these days.
The answer is that the current broadcasting landscape means we are all streaming madly or scrolling through our phones at different times, meaning a joke about the late football commentator John Motson’s jacket, which might have played to an appreciative audience of millions a decade ago, might now evince no more than a puzzled frown.
However, on rescuing these pieces from the dustbin of history – Martin’s laptop actually – there seemed merit in the view that a half-decent joke is a half-decent joke whenever it’s told. We think there are a few in this collection.
Where possible we have tried to supply a bit of context, and there are fragments of memoir too, previously unpublished, for anyone interested in the author’s ‘journey’ – as publishers seem contractually obliged to call everybody’s life these days.
We need a laugh in these difficult times – unless there’s been a recent economic miracle, in which case disregard. The good news is that age has not withered those in this long-awaited volume, nor custom staled their not quite infinite variety.
