Scratching Shed Publishing

PRE-ORDER NOW – PUBLICATION DATE FRIDAY 9 OCTOBER

Words from Hyem – The Life and Rhymes of Richard Oliver Heslop

by Andy Bogle and Tony Hannan

Historian, author, songwriter, poet, businessman, humourist, lexicologist, Liberal man-about-town and – from 1914 to 1916 – president of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne, along with much else besides, Oliver Heslop is the Toon’s forgotten champion. The man responsible for the region’s first nationally recognised dialect dictionary Northumberland Words – prior to then published weekly in the Evening Chronicle – was a celebrity of his day, a champion of the region, years ahead of his time. Yet sadly, since his demise, his astonishing contribution has been all but overlooked. This book puts that right.

And in fact, Words from Hyem has its own sad tale to tell. Originally, it had one single author, South Shields-born Andy Bogle, latterly resident in the USA, but drawn back frequently to County Durham and Northumberland and his second residence in Hexham. Now it has a couple. Yorkshireman and ‘adopted Geordie’ Tony Hannan has in-laws galore in South Shields, so needed little persuasion to step into the breach when Andy passed away in August 2023. In short, this is a biography like no other.

PUBLISHED 24 OCTOBER 2025 – PRE-ORDER NOW

By Tommy Cannon

with a Foreword by Robbie Williams

Edited by Paul Thompson

“I would rather make people laugh, than make them do anything else…”

Hilarious, irreverent, poignant, fanciful, quirky, imaginative, original, musical. Jake Thackray was a storytelling genius who loved using words to entertain, move, surprise and provoke. While his extraordinary songs are rightly celebrated, they were not the beginning of his life as a wordsmith, nor the end. Jake Thackray – The Unsung Writer is a chance to explore Jake’s other writings: love poetry; an experimental short story; his charming script for a school musical; amusing pen portraits; his first published work; tall tales crafted for his concerts; and his acclaimed, colourful columns for the ‘Yorkshire Post’ and ‘Catholic Herald’. This entertaining collection provides fresh insights into Jake’s creativity and the development of his distinctive voice.

Paul Thompson is also the co-author of critically-acclaimed biography Beware of the Bull – The Enigmatic Genius of Jake Thackray

By George Griffin

Illustrations: Elly J Suggit and Jodie Kelley

He’s back! Hot on the heels of his first book, Harvey the Hippo now has a second. And in it, he and his friends are joining a marching band! But will he play the drums, saxophone, flute, trumpet or trombone, as Safari School prepares to take the stage?

Written by professional rugby league player George Griffin, this follow-up to Harvey Hippo Finds His Talent also has wonderfully colourful images that any child will love. Harvey 2 is a musical and poetic treat for children just learning to read.

Ever wondered what happened to one-of-a-kind comedian Phil Cool?

Well now you can find out, as told by the man himself…

Young Mick, next door, played drums and bagpipes. Separately, of course, but it still annoyed our neighbours. He’d say stuff like: ‘I’m quitting my band. They’re a bunch of big-heads; not one of them is as talented as I am.’

Then one day, in the early 1970s, he said something sensible. ‘Phil, if you don’t start doing proper gigs now, you’ll be too old and it won’t happen.’ So I made a decision to get serious, leave my job and make the transition from wage to stage. By 1985, after playing every dive in the UK, I’d honed a few hours of decent stand-up and landed a series on BBC2. Game-changer. After that I landed another, which won a Royal Television Award for originality.

A third series, a special and two ITV series followed. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the phone didn’t stop ringing; my memorable face was everywhere. I had realised a dream. Then, as far as most viewers knew, I all but vanished. It’s true big theatres progressively grew smaller, but in fact I carried on walking the boards until my retirement, aged 65.

I am now 76. So here’s the book. I think you’ll like it. For a fair price, you get the head … the tale … the whole damn thing.