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' ...

'If you love dogs, if you love travel and if you don't mind Mark, you will love this book' Paddy McGuinnessCall me Mark. My first time in the Roman district of Trastevere was in 1997 whilst covering the England World Cup qualifier for Radio 1. Nearly thirty years later, I'm headed back there, with my wife Bella and dog Arlo in tow.Call me Arlo. I normally hate the sight of suitcases in case it means Him and...

Standing at the crossroads – the Mississippi crossroads of Robert Johnson and the devil’s infamous meeting – Mark Radcliffe found himself facing his own personal juncture. Aged sixty, he had just mourned the death of his father, only to be diagnosed with mouth and throat cancer. Together these events led Radcliffe to think about pivotal tracks in music and how the musicians who wrote and performed them had reached the crossroads that led to such epoch-changing music.Cr...

Having been sacked from his university teaching job, Ed has returned to his home town to pick up the threads of his old life with his friends and ex-girlfriend, Jeannie, in the Northern Sky folk music club. His dream is to play with them again, making music like his hero Nick Drake - and maybe even a little money. But know-it-all Matt O'Malley is now running the club and has ambitious plans for them that involve contracts and record deals. Can Ed get in on the act, or does O'Malley have a ...

'Mark Radcliffe: the world of rock salutes you' Melody MakerMark Radcliffe recalls his less-than-glittering rock career in a succession of bands which all ended in ignominy and frustration.'Lancashire's answer to Nick Hornby. If Mark Radcliffe ever gets bored with DJing, there's a highly promising career as a writer waiting for him.' MirrorCombining his trademark humour with an acute eye for the ridiculous, Mark ad...

When Radio One chief Matthew Bannister popped into 'A Lite Bite' in Altrincham for his favourite gherkin roll, little did he expect to find the two northern chancers who would bring so much sophistication to his beloved station. For there in the corner, playing a DLT Give Us A Break trivia game, stood Mark Radcliffe and his mate, known not particularly affectionately as Lard. Soon millions would be tuning in to hear the witty banter and roughhouse sketches of the men once described as 'tha...

'If you love dogs, if you love travel and if you don't mind Mark, you will love this book' Paddy McGuinnessCall me Mark. My first time in the Roman district of Trastevere was in 1997 whilst covering the England World Cup qualifier for Radio 1. Nearly thirty years later, I'm headed back there, with my wife Bella and dog Arlo in tow.Call me Arlo. I normally hate the sight of suitcases in case it means Him and...

All 36 episodes of the maverick literary quizPoet Ian McMillan is our host in this gleeful game of literary tomfoolery, outrageous parody and biting wit. Joining him for some lighthearted competitive wordplay are a quartet of writers and comedians, all ready and eager to run riot through the halls of great literature.Their bookish challenges include 'New Beginnings and Endings', which sees them topping and tailing well-known literary works to produce some v...

Standing at the crossroads – the Mississippi crossroads of Robert Johnson and the devil’s infamous meeting – Mark Radcliffe found himself facing his own personal crunch point. Aged sixty, he had just mourned the death of his father, only to be handed a diagnosis of mouth and throat cancer.This momentous time in his life, and being at the most famous junction in music history, led Radcliffe to think about the pivotal tracks in music and how the musicians who wrote and perfo...

Brought to you by Penguin.'He is as funny as Bryson and as wise as Orwell' ObserverIt was the spirit of our finest hour, the backbone of our post-war greatness, and it promoted some of the boldest and most brilliant schemes this isle has ever produced: it was the Welfare State, and it made you and I. But now it's under threat, and we need to save it.In this timely and provocative book, Stuart Maconie tells Britain’s Welfare...

The Lives Less Ordinary series brings you the most exciting, adventurous and entertaining true-life writing that is out there, for men who are time-poor but want the best. Lives Less Ordinary drops you into extreme first-hand accounts of human experience, whether that's the adrenaline-pumping heights of professional sport, the brutality of the modern battlefield, the casual violence of the criminal world, the mind-blowing frontiers of science, or the excesses of rock 'n' ...

In Hope and Glory Stuart Maconie goes in search of the days that shaped the Britain we live in today. Taking one event from each decade of the 20th century, he visits the places where history happened and still echoes down the years. Stuart goes to Orgreave and Windsor, Wembley and Wootton Bassett, assembling a unique cast of Britons from Sir Edmund Hillary to Sid Vicious along the way.It’s quite a trip, full of sex and violence and the occasional scone and jigsaw. From po...