My Old Man, John Major
My Old Man, John Major
List: $31.99 | Sale: $22.40
Club: $15.99

My Old Man

Author: John Major

Narrator: Sir John Major, Roy Hudd OBE

Unabridged: 13 hr 40 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/18/2012

Synopsis

Former prime minister John Major takes a remarkable journey into his own unconventional family past to tell the richly colourful story of the British music hall Music hall was one of the glories of Victorian England. Sentimental, vulgar, class-conscious, but always patriotic and on the side of the underdog, it held a mirror to the audiences’ hopes and fears, and sometimes the general absurdity of life. Vast, smoke-filled auditoriums were packed night after night in nearly every town and city in Britain. The most popular performers, such as Marie Lloyd, Vesta Tilley and George Robey, were among the highest paid and most celebrated figures in the land. This was the world that John Major’s father Tom entered at the age of 21 as a comedian and singer. In My Old Man, the former prime minister uses his father’s story as a springboard for telling the entertaining history of the music hall, from its origins in Elizabethan times through to its heyday in the nineteenth century and eventual decline with the rise of radio and cinema in the twentieth century. Packed with colourful anecdotes about the great performers of the day, this warm-hearted history conjures up a lost age.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ken

Well here's a surprise I never thought I would praising a book written by en ex Tory Pm . However this is a thoroughly well researched book as good on the antecedents of music hall as of the music hall era itself. Character studies of many of the great music hall artistes such as Marie Lloyd, Little......more

Goodreads review by Nicholas

[URL not allowed][return][return]This is a detailed and yet very readable survey of the British music hall, from early days in the 1850s to death by competition from cinema and broadcasting after the first world war. I had not fully realised just how rooted British popular c......more

Goodreads review by Louise

A very interesting history of the music hall from its origins to its decline. John Major’s father was a music hall performer and his book shows a great affection for the subject as well as a wide knowledge. He discusses famous stars like Marie Lloyd, Dan Leno, and Little Tich, and also lesser known......more

Goodreads review by Mick

ladies and gentlemen,the book is a labour of love with liberal attitude and some conservative thoughts from America.now that is out of the way,it is a seriously good read about not just the stars but the promoters as well.not many of them lived to a ripe old age and many died penniless,but the hard......more

Goodreads review by John

I loved this book. My Great Grandmother had a brief career in Music Hall and so there was a certain amount of perssonal interest. I heard JM read his hostory of cricket, a subject I have little interest in on Radio Four and the story telling was such that I thoroughly enjoyed the story despite it no......more

Quotes

‘An uncommon book about one of the most extraordinary, vital and creative chapters in British theatrical history admiration … Major also nobly honours his parents and the life they lived. The affection is palpable and anything but pious. In short, he gets it’ Simon Callow, Guardian ‘Affectionate, charming and unexpectedly lively … Major paints a vivid picture … to read this richly enjoyable book is to be given a glimpse into a lost world’ Mail on Sunday ‘Entertaining and well-paced … My Old Man is a powerful and affecting tribute’ Daily Express ‘His deep affection for his parents inspires his finest writing…fascinating … My Old Man is an entertaining and intriguing potted history, full of quirky details about this quintessentially English phenomenon’ Independent ‘Entertaining, fascinating and written with love….the admiration that John feels for his father is palpable on every page’ Sunday Express

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