Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North

This is a superb book; although it has the appearance of belonging to the recently emerged sub genre of humorous and slightly outrageous travel writing, it quickly become apparent that there's far more to it than that. Maconie takes us on a selective tour of the North of England, visiting both his old haunts and other key areas, such as Liverpool, Harrogate and other parts of Yorkshire. Along the way, there are recollections of various amusing personal incidents and a stock of good one-liners, but alongside these, there's a depth of historical, cultural, political and social information and analysis, which is both well researched and convincingly argued. Well worth reading.

Whose pies are they? (0/0 people found this helpful)

I was on a cruise and the comedian was Bobby Bennett. In a question and answer session someone mentioned that he had been mentioned in Stuart Maconie's Pies and Prejudice as he was the compare of Junior Showtime in the 1970s with people like Bonnie Langford and Pauline Quirke.

That led me to read this book. The jokes about the north south divided is a bit of a cliche for comedians but the cliches are all we can go on without any facts. This book goes someway towards giving us some facts.

He story about the Wigan liking of pies is quite good.

A Bolton man who breathlessly tells his workman from Wigan about a new lunchtime offer at local pub

" A pie , a pint and a woman for 80p" The Wiganer seems unimpressed 80p repeats his workmate excitedly
H'm declares the Wiganer warily " Whose pies are they?"

He went to Blackpool when he was young and said when on the train he took out a book and began to read. the whole carriage looked at him as if he had taken out a cuckoo clock or a lacrosse stick.

I learnt that Roger Whittaker had got it all wrong in the song Durham Town (the leavin') he said he sat on the banks of the river Tyne whereas it should have been the Wear.

I have visited quite a few of the places he mentions but only briefly. It makes me want to visit them all again. A perceptive look at the north by someone who knows what he is talking about.

He should now do a similar book about the south

He says the BBC has A northern correspondent and that it would be laughable if anyone thought they should have southern correspondent. the South views the North as some sort of foreign country that has to be explained to from London and the home counties.

A good read and I have ordered his Cider with Roadies. Well recommended.

Well written, enjoyable and informative (0/0 people found this helpful)

Overall I enjoyed reading this book and as others have said it certainly has inspired me to visit some of the places described. I liked the author's writing style and most of all I found most of the historical detail interesting and educational. However after reading through relatively huge sections on Liverpool, Manchester and Wigan I was disappointed to see places like Sheffield glossed over very briefly - surely Sheffield has more to offer than the time he spent discussing the National Museum of Pop Music?

YES THERE IS A NORTH - SOUTH DIVIDE: WE CAN LAUGH AT OURSELVES AND SOUTHERNERS CAN'T! (1/2 people found this helpful)

BRILLIANT READ. OK - if you know the places Stuart writes about (I know the exact chippy he talks about down the road from Crewe station!) it helps but even if you don't and have never ventured north of Chalfont St Witless, it's still a great read. The two one star reviewers from "Darn Sarth" are obviously miffed at the fact that no-one can be bothered to write about "southerners" because, as Maconie points out early on in the book, there is not the strong identification of "being a southerner" as there is for those of us north of..well, according to Stuart it's north of Stoke.

It pokes fun of the north and does ask some tough questions at times but more than anything else, it is a great travelogue. Strike a light, Guv, you can't ask fairer than that....

Love and Hypocrisy : A Lancastrian View of the North (1/1 people found this helpful)

There were pages I skipped in this book out of sheer irritation at his socialist, BBC politics; and others I have marked up to remind me to visit or revisit some of the places in the North this southern girl loves.

His prejudice against the south is foolish and stereotyped; and his rants against middle class pursuits, whilst so obviously now being middle class himself, is blind hypocrisy. But, I would say it all adds to the charm of the book. If you want to get into the head of a northern working class lad, who became a middle class, southern media type complete with PC bias - then this is an illuminating piece of social history in its own right.

As a travel guide it is very patchy: it goes into great depth about West Lancashire - but he speeds around much of the north in a matter of pages, completely missing out some very obvious illustrative places like North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and York. However, when he goes into any depth he does make you want to go and explore the place for yourself - surely the objective of a travel book.

When he talks about your patch you notice the factual mistakes, and by the look of these reviews there are quite a number of them. All a little lax. However, the book has frequent 'laugh out loud' points, so if you treat it as a story a friend might tell in a pub, and not quite get his facts right, then that is really the tone of it. But where I am sure he will be factually correct, and was really rather interesting was in the musical background of Manchester and Liverpool - obviously a subject he does know.

All in all, worth a read on the train if you know the North, and can put up with the prejudice - and I think most can for the laugh; and the reminder that the north has a wonderful, rugged beauty that is quite different to the warm, charms of the south.

Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North

Stuart Maconie

Reader Reviews:

Entertaining and perceptive (0/0 people found this helpful)

Whose pies are they? (0/0 people found this helpful)

Well written, enjoyable and informative (0/0 people found this helpful)

YES THERE IS A NORTH - SOUTH DIVIDE: WE CAN LAUGH AT OURSELVES AND SOUTHERNERS CAN'T! (1/2 people found this helpful)

Love and Hypocrisy : A Lancastrian View of the North (1/1 people found this helpful)

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