Product Description

'My name is Stuart Maconie, and I am from the North Of England. Some time ago, I was standing in my kitchen, rustling up a Sunday brunch for some very hungover, very Northern mates who were 'down' for the weekend. One of them was helping me out and, recipe book in hand, asked "where are the sun-dried tomatoes?" "They're behind the cappuccino maker," I replied. Silence fell. We slowly met each other's gaze. We did not say anything. We did not need to. Each read the other's unspoken thought: we had become those kinds of people, the kind of people who had sun-dried tomatoes and cappuccino makers, the kind of people who did Sunday brunch. In other words: southerners.' A northerner in exile, stateless and confused, hearing rumours of Harvey Nichols in Leeds and Maseratis in Wilmslow, Stuart goes in search of The North. Delving into his own past, it is a riotously funny journey in search of where the cliches end and the truth begins. He travels from Wigan Pier to Blackpool Tower, the Bigg Market in Newcastle to the daffodil-laden Lake District in search of his own Northern Soul, encountering along the way an exotic cast of Scousers, Scallies, pie-eating Woolly-backs, topless Geordies, mad-for-it Mancs, Yorkshire nationalists and brothers in southern exile.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #130629 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

About the Author
Stuart Maconie is a journalist and writer, and is familiar to millions as a TV and radio presenter. He is the host of Stuart Maconie's Critical List on BBC Radio 2 and Freak Zone on Radio 6, and has written and presented dozens of other shows on BBC Radio. He presents the DVD Collection on BBC Four and has made regular appearances on Never Mind the Buzzcocks on BBC2. As well as a popping up in Peter Kay's Phoenix Nights, he is a favourite on hit nostalgia TV series such as the BBC's I Love the 1970s. His other books include the acclaimed official biographies of both Blur and James as well as his bestselling musical odyssey Cider With Roadies, published by Ebury. He can name GQ Man of the Year and Sony Awards Radio Broadcaster of the Year amongst his accolades. He lives in the West Midlands and is happiest when fell-walking with his dog, Muffin.

Customer Reviews

I loved it - and I live in Surrey!
I happened to buy Stuart Maconie's excellent guide to the North - part Bill Brysonesque comic travel guide, part a genuinely heartfelt portrait of everything he loves about the area - just before going on an extensive driving tour for my work, incorporating many of the cities described. Not only was it an excellent companion on my travels, but I found out so much I didn't know, even though I have spent a great deal of time in the North over the years.

What is so engaging about Maconie's prose is that he is fully aware of the prejudices that exist about the North and about specific cities and nods to them jokily while leaving no one in any doubt that stereotypes and oversimplifications are just that.

His passion for music and history come out on almost every page but it is the humour that sells it - showing once again how a light touch can make some very serious social and political observations. I challenge anyone - Southerners included - not to enjoy this and learn from it.

Even when Maconie makes little mistakes (it's LOUIS Tussaud's in Blackpool and he seems to have merged two separate Viz characters into one) he's easily forgiven because he passes on such a wealth of fascinating and frequently laugh-out-loud material (a passing reference to how people mispronounce 'Clitheroe' being a case in point!)

I guarantee it'll change your perception of Wigan at the very least.

Characterisations and nicknames
A witty and interesting book which was more than just a search for 't'north' ...after all I don't really care exactly where it is...I just know I live there!!
The social history of some of our much loved northern towns and cities was indeed warmly told from the bands of Liverpool and Manchester to the shipyards on Wearside and plenty in between.

Maconie adds his own style of wry humour to his tour of the north and yes, he does have a bias towards the north, but doesn't really slag off the south...just made me chuckle at the differences. After all just because Sunderland folks think it's a heatwave at the same temperature southerners are "...togged up in car coats and parkas..." is more amusing observation than a flattering description. But then I'm from Yorkshire so prone to exaggeration! ;-)

Why I'm proud to be a Northerner
A few years ago Charles Jennings wrote a book called 'Up North'. This was a deeply mean-spirited book in which Southerner Jennings basically rubbished all things North. I well rememember reading it because by the time I had finished the book was falling to pieces from being regularly thrown at a wall in disgust!
Stuart Maconies effort is much more to my liking, mainly because it is written by a Northerner who actually knows what he is talking about. Okay, both Maconie and myself are biased, but even so Pies and Prejudice is a much better read that I should imagine can be enjoyed by even the most died in in wool Southerner.
As Maconie states early on that this is not meant to be a comprehensive account of all towns in the North. Some major cities - Sheffield for example, are given only the briefest of mentions and some none at all. This, to me almost unbelievably, includes York, surely the Norths jewel in the crown. Also, a little too much is written about Manchester and Liverpool although as this is Maconies 'home patch' I can forgive him that.
There is the occasional factual error (Charlie Williams born in Bradford? Tetleys brewed in Doncaster?) but in a book containing as many enjoyable snippets of information as this book does, again this is forgivable.
What I most like about the book though is that although I have already been to almost all the places mentioned in the book after reading Maconies descriptions and stories I now want to visit them again.