Scratching Shed Publishing

PUBLISHED IN OCTOBER – PRE-ORDER NOW

By Tommy Cannon

with a Foreword by Robbie Williams

Tommy Cannon was half of one of the most popular comedy duos British television has ever produced. Wheeltappers & Shunters Social Club … Royal Variety Performances … Saturday night light entertainment … end of the pier during many a seaside season … the pair even made a popular feature film. In short, Cannon and Ball were everywhere.

But just who is this unassuming welder from Oldham, real name Tommy Derbyshire, whose life changed on the day he met Bobby Harper? And when you’re the straight man in the partnership, what happens when you lose your beloved best friend to Covid? You question everything: past, present and whether there’s a future.

Here, for the first time, are Tommy’s reminiscences of a tough start in life, the unexpected fame, fortune and loss of all that – and of how hard he found it to grieve

for his little mate in the red braces. Now, five years on, back on the road and doing what he does best with a huge social media following, he is ready to tell his story.

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 Ally Shepherd

After a decade overseas, Ally Shepherd got stuck in the Northwest of England amid 2020’s pandemic chaos. She promptly became a born-again Northerner and, probably annoyingly, wanted to tell the world.

Documenting her journey to understand herself through the region in which she grew up, she explores its pressing questions, such as:  Is there still a North/South divide?  Was she descended from a Pendle witch?  Why does Liverpool have a slavery museum?  What’s with Scouse and Geordie accents?  Where are Northern women’s stories in TV, film, and literature?  And is it okay to eat chips, cheese and gravy? (Spoiler: The answer to the last question is ‘yes’).

Drawing on history, politics, pop culture, and folklore – as well as a childhood in Cheshire, family stories from Lancashire, and an education in Yorkshire – Back Up North explores the region’s diverse legacy of food, music, literature, dialect, social change and superstition. Give it a read, pet. Tha might learn summat.

by Lee Stuart Evans

The late 1980s.

Robin dreams of becoming Jim Kerr, singer in the best band in the world, Simple Minds, despite having no talent whatsoever.

Fliss is a musical genius, perhaps the East Midlands’ answer to Kate Bush, if only she had more confidence.

Until rock stardom inevitably descends upon him, Robin takes a job at the local garage, where for the first time in his life he finds a sense of purpose; while Fliss, pushed by her mother, reluctantly auditions for TV’s biggest talent show and proves an instant hit.

When dozens of fast cars are stolen, old mechanic Vern recruits Robin to help him investigate suspicious goings-on at a derelict railway yard on the edge of Sherwood Forest.

It’s all a bit of a lark until somebody gets killed and Robin and Fliss find themselves entangled in a police investigation.

But does death mean the end of their romantic and musical dreams, or is it only just the beginning?

‘Alive and kicking with big laughs and an even bigger heart…’ – Patrick Kielty

‘My favourite funny writer…’ – Harry Hill

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