Product Description

Approaching 50, Mark Radcliffe decided to write about his life, most importantly, his time in music. But crucially, he only wanted to write about the most interesting days and not the dull ones in between. With predictable good taste, Mark takes his title from the Kinks' song and has written an entertaining, funny book worthy of such a pedigree. Mark's family life is covered by 'The Day My Mother Hit Me With a Golf Club' , his school life by 'The Day I Ruined a Perfectly Good Suit' and 'The Day I Got My First Guitar'; through his epiphany of the power of music in 'The Day I Met the Band Who Changed My Life' and his star struck meeting with childhood hero, David Bowie. Many other stars are covered too, for example in 'The Day I Went to Kate Bush's House for Cheese Flan', and 'The Day Mick Jagger Was Taller Than Me'. He's very funny when recounting his days working at the BBC in '80s and '90s (how, when bored, he and colleagues invented a fictional department), winning Stars in Their Eyes as Shane MacGowan and so on. Yet, among the laughter are more sober days, such as the one when he learned John Peel had died.A cracking read and a potted history of both one man's life and his love affair with music, THANK YOU FOR THE DAYS is a uniquely entertaining memoir that will appeal not just to music fans but to connoisseurs of British popular culture.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2084 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-06
• Released on: 2009-04-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

About the Author
Mark Radcliffe was born in Bolton and attended Manchester University. He has been employed by the BBC to talk in between records for over twenty years, many of these with Lard (aka Marc Riley) and currently with Stuart Maconie on Radio 2. He has won 6 Gold Sony Awards and has recorded five albums with two bands. He has three daughters and lives in Cheshire.

Customer Reviews

Suspicious
I quite agree with another reviewer here: Radcliffe spends a suspicious amount of time stressing how he's very much an ordinary, hetrosexual kind of guy. Why protest so much if those things aren't in any doubt?

The accounts of meeting Jagger, McCartney, Kylie, Kate Bush, Dr Feelgood and so on are very interesting, as are the tales of time spent with John Peel. Knowing more about how these sorts of people behave in certain situations is fascinating. There are also some very welcome insights into the bizarre workings of the BBC. Another highlight includes hearing how Mark posed as Shane McGowan of The Pogues for Stars In Their Eyes.

I found some of the childhood anecdotes a little dull. These sorts of things have happened to most of us, so why write about them?

The other thing that grates is Mark's attempts to be funny ALL the time. Some of these stories could be allowed to unfold and reveal their own integral humour, but Radcliffe insists on cramming wisecracks into every paragraph, often creating little digressions apparently just to squeeze in yet more (slightly predictable) jokes. It's good to be amused by a book, of course, but sometimes you feel he's trying just a bit too hard to show you that he is both hilarious and modest with it. It seems he is very eager to be liked, which is odd given his very successful career and also the fact that he seems to be a genuinely decent man.

Gripes aside, while this is clearly no masterpiece (and I'm sure Mark would insist that it was never meant to be), you will find the book fairly entertaining and it will fill a few train journeys in a mostly pleasing fashion. Fans of the Radcliffe & Maconie show on Radio 2 will know what to expect and will almost certainly be satisfied. But it lacks the subtlety and true observational comedy of Maconie's Cider with Roadies.

Ta...but no ta, Mark
Had high hopes for this, based on Radcliffe's previous efforts but the central premise of chronicling the best day's of his life begins to drag a little over the course of this book.

Admittedly, the chapters on Jagger, McCartney and his early days in radio are of some interest but what begins to become slightly annoying is Radcliffe's propensity for labouring the same point over say a good 3 pages a chapter and also what begins to feel like a certain sense of false humility on the authors part.

Now i've been an avid listener of Radcliffe's various radio-based incarnations, so it's with a heavy heart that I dispense this particular criticism but he does seem to waffle on a wee bit too much about how he's ''an average bloke who got lucky''.

Ultimately, the thing that made me pick up this book was getting a humourous insight into the rock n' roll greats that he's rubbed shoulders with. The chapters on his childhood however seem fairly boring by comparison.

So ultimately, not worth the admission price folks!

Fancy a brew?
As a fan of Mr Radcliffe of over 15 years standing I found this book most enjoyable. The tone is exactly what you'd expect if you like his 'conversational' radio style.
As he's a very private man I don't think we're going to get a full-blown autobiography from him, his insights into his childhood, student days and early days in radio are entertaining though. I found those chapters - especially the one on holidays - the most pleasing.