Alan Johnson - Author

Please, Mister Postman

Winner of the Magic FM Autobiography/Biography of the Year at the Specsavers National Book Awards 2014. Born in condemned housing in West London in 1950, with no heating, no electricity and no running water, Alan Johnson did not have the easiest start in life. But by the age of 18, he was married, a father and working as a postman in Slough. This sequel to Alan's bestselling memoir This Boy, describes the next period in Alan's life with every bit as much honesty, humour and emotional impact as his bestselling debut. Please, Mr Postman paints a vivid picture of a bygone era - Britain in the 1970s was a very different country to the one we know today - and reveals another fascinating chapter in the life of one of our best loved public figures.

Please, Mr Postman

Winner of the Magic FM Autobiography/Biography of the Year at the Specsavers National Book Awards 2014. Born in condemned housing in West London in 1950, with no heating, no electricity and no running water, Alan Johnson did not have the easiest start in life. But by the age of 18, he was married, a father and working as a postman in Slough. This sequel to Alan's bestselling memoir This Boy, describes the next period in Alan's life with every bit as much honesty, humour and emotional impact as his bestselling debut. Please, Mr Postman paints a vivid picture of a bygone era - Britain in the 1970s was a very different country to the one we know today - and reveals another fascinating chapter in the life of one of our best loved public figures.

This Boy

London's Notting Hill in the 1950s was an unimaginably different place to the white stucco splendour it's known for today. Alan Johnson's family lived in condemned housing, declared unfit for human habitation, in a cramped flat with no central heating, no electricity and no running water. His mother, Lily, battled against poor health, poverty, domestic violence and chronic loneliness to try and ensure a better life for her children. His sister, Linda, took on an adult's burden of responsibility and fought to keep the family together when she was still only a child. This personal story is played out against the background of a community on the verge of massive upheavals. We move from postwar austerity, through the early days of immigration and race riots, into the swinging Sixties, when Alan and his band recorded a record on Denmark Street and he became a teenage father and husband. No matter how harsh the detail, Alan writes with a spirit of generous acceptance, humour and openness which makes his book anything but a grim catalogue of misery. In the end, This Boy is about success against all the odds, and paints a vivid portrait of a bygone era.

In My Life A Music Memoir

From the moment a young Alan Johnson first twanged the strings of his plastic `Tommy Steele' guitar, he was determined to become a rock star. Alan's life has always been lived to a musical soundtrack. His earliest memories of the bleak, post-war, pre-rock 'n' roll west London landscape into which he was born are suffused with the melodies that wafted from the rented Bakelite wireless in the slum where he lived with his frail mother and dauntless sister. His love affair with pop music blossomed alongside the music itself, which exploded into being in the mid-1950s and came to embody the iconoclastic spirit of a new era. In this memoir, Alan looks back at his pursuit of rock stardom, and his parallel life as a supermarket worker, postman, union official and father of three, through the music that accompanied it - on vinyl, cassette tape or blasting from the stages of the Marquee club in Soho or the Wimbledon Palais; the sounds of Chuck Berry and Lonnie Donegan, of the Yardbirds and Dylan, of Bowie, Elvis Costello and Springsteen . . . not forgetting the Beatles, the band he has worshipped since 1963. In My Life recalls with affection a vanished world of Dansettes, dancehalls and smoky pubs, Flower Power and platform shoes. Honest, poignant and very funny, it is more than just a nostalgic celebration of music: it offers a new perspective on the singular life of Alan Johnson the man.

In My Life

Random House presents the audiobook edition of In My Life, written and read by Alan Johnson. From being transported by the sound of 'True Love' by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly on the radio, as a small child living in condemned housing in ungentrified West London in the late 1950s, to going out to work as a postman humming 'Watching the Detectives' by Elvis Costello in 1977, Alan Johnson's life has always had a musical soundtrack. In fact music hasn't just accompanied his life, it's been an integral part of it.In the bestselling and award-winning tradition of This Boy, In My Life vividly transports us to a world that is no longer with us - a world of Dansettes and jukeboxes, of heartfelt love songs and heart-broken ballads, of smoky coffee shops and dingy dance halls. From Bob Dylan to David Bowie, from Lonnie Donnegan to Bruce Springsteen, all of Alan's favourites are here. As are, of course, his beloved Beatles, whom he has worshipped with undying admiration since 1963.But this isn't just a book about music. In My Life adds a fourth dimension to the story of Alan Johnson the man.

In My Life A Music Memoir

From being transported by the sound of 'True Love' by Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly on the radio, as a small child living in condemned housing in ungentrified West London in the late 1950s, to going out to work as a postman humming 'Watching the Detectives' by Elvis Costello in 1977, Alan Johnson's life has always had a musical soundtrack. In fact music hasn't just accompanied his life, it's been an integral part of it. In the bestselling and award-winning tradition of This Boy, In My Life vividly transports us to a world that is no longer with us - a world of Dansettes and jukeboxes, of heartfelt love songs and heart-broken ballads, of smoky coffee shops and dingy dance halls. From Bob Dylan to David Bowie, from Lonnie Donnegan to Bruce Springsteen, all of Alan's favourites are here. As are, of course, his beloved Beatles, whom he has worshipped with undying admiration since 1963. But this isn't just a book about music. In My Life adds a fourth dimension to the story of Alan Johnson the man.

The Long and Winding Road

Winner of the Parliamentary Book Award, best memoir by a Parliamentarian, 2016 From the condemned slums of Southam Street in West London to the corridors of power in Westminster, Alan Johnson's multi-award-winning autobiography charts an extraordinary journey, almost unimaginable in today's Britain. This third volume tells of Alan's early political skirmishes as a trades union leader, where his negotiating skills and charismatic style soon came to the notice of Tony Blair and other senior members of the Labour Party. As a result, Alan was chosen to stand in the constituency of Hull West and Hessle, and entered Parliament as an MP after the landslide election victory for Labour in May 1997. But this is no self-aggrandizing memoir of Westminster politicking and skulduggery. Supporting the struggle of his constituents, the Hull trawlermen and their families, for justice comes more naturally to Alan than do the byzantine complexities of Parliamentary procedure. But of course he does succeed there, and rises through various ministerial positions to the office of Home Secretary in 2009. In The Long and Winding Road, Alan's characteristic honesty and authenticity shine through every word. His book takes you into a world which is at once familiar and strange: this is politics as you've never seen it before...

The Long and Winding Road

Winner of the Parliamentary Book Award, best memoir by a Parliamentarian, 2016 From the condemned slums of Southam Street in West London to the corridors of power in Westminster, Alan Johnson's multi-award-winning autobiography charts an extraordinary journey, almost unimaginable in today's Britain. This third volume tells of Alan's early political skirmishes as a trades union leader, where his negotiating skills and charismatic style soon came to the notice of Tony Blair and other senior members of the Labour Party. As a result, Alan was chosen to stand in the constituency of Hull West and Hessle, and entered Parliament as an MP after the landslide election victory for Labour in May 1997. But this is no self-aggrandizing memoir of Westminster politicking and skulduggery. Supporting the struggle of his constituents, the Hull trawlermen and their families, for justice comes more naturally to Alan than do the byzantine complexities of Parliamentary procedure. But of course he does succeed there, and rises through various ministerial positions to the office of Home Secretary in 2009. In The Long and Winding Road, Alan's characteristic honesty and authenticity shine through every word. His book takes you into a world which is at once familiar and strange: this is politics as you've never seen it before...

Please, Mister Postman

Winner of the Magic FM Autobiography/Biography of the Year at the Specsavers National Book Awards 2014. Born in condemned housing in West London in 1950, with no heating, no electricity and no running water, Alan Johnson did not have the easiest start in life. But by the age of 18, he was married, a father and working as a postman in Slough. This sequel to Alan's bestselling memoir This Boy, describes the next period in Alan's life with every bit as much honesty, humour and emotional impact as his bestselling debut. Please, Mr Postman paints a vivid picture of a bygone era - Britain in the 1970s was a very different country to the one we know today - and reveals another fascinating chapter in the life of one of our best loved public figures.

This Boy

London's Notting Hill in the 1950s was an unimaginably different place to the white stucco splendour it's known for today. Alan Johnson's family lived in condemned housing, declared unfit for human habitation, in a cramped flat with no central heating, no electricity and no running water. His mother, Lily, battled against poor health, poverty, domestic violence and chronic loneliness to try and ensure a better life for her children. His sister, Linda, took on an adult's burden of responsibility and fought to keep the family together when she was still only a child. This personal story is played out against the background of a community on the verge of massive upheavals. We move from postwar austerity, through the early days of immigration and race riots, into the swinging Sixties, when Alan and his band recorded a record on Denmark Street and he became a teenage father and husband. No matter how harsh the detail, Alan writes with a spirit of generous acceptance, humour and openness which makes his book anything but a grim catalogue of misery. In the end, This Boy is about success against all the odds, and paints a vivid portrait of a bygone era.

The Greater Flamingo

With their curious feeding behaviour, peculiar elongated body, gregarious social lives and exotic pink plumage, flamingos are among the most familiar and popular of all the world's birds. They have inspired artists, poets and amateur naturalists for centuries, but until 50 years ago very little was known about their biology. A growing number of scientists have directed their attention to these magnificent birds over recent years; this book summarises current understanding of flamingo biology, with detailed discussion of population dynamics, ecology, movements, feeding, breeding biology and conservation, with emphasis placed on the authors' work on the famous population of Greater Flamingos in the Camargue region of southern France. There is also a detailed guide to breeding areas, and an outline of future challenges for research.

How to Pinstripe

Understanding the Edwardian and Inter-War House

Britain has a heritage of cottage-style homes which can be traced back to the second half of the nineteenth century, which became the prevailing style in the years immediately preceding the First World War, and which virtually monopolised housebuilding in the inter-war period. Examples of these houses from the Edwardian age are rightly prized by their owners and their descendants from the 1920s and 30s can now be reappraised with an objectivity that was impossible even a generation ago. Understanding Edwardian and Inter-war Houses will be indispensable for those embarking on a major renovation, authentic restoration, maintenance or improvement of houses of this period. Topics covered include: historical background and description of dwelling types; constructional anatomy of Edwardian and Inter-war houses; Modern Movement Houses; and alterations and improvements.