Description
Book Synopsis'An enlightening, enjoyable and frequently very funny journey into what makes Yorkshire stand out from the crowd ... a fascinating insight into our wonderful region and the people that make it what it is.'
The Yorkshire Post
Written from the perspective of an exiled Yorkshireman this bestselling, award-winning author returns to his native county to discover and reveal its soul.
We all know the tropes - Geoffrey Boycott incarnate, ferret-leggers and folk singers gambolling about Ilkley Moor without appropriate headgear - but why is Yorkshire God's Own County?
Exiled Yorkshireman Rick Broadbent sets out to find out whether Yorkshireness is something that can be summed up and whether it even matters in a shrinking world. Along the way he meets rock stars, ramblers and rhubarb growers as he searches for answers and a decent cup of tea.
Now Then is a biographical mosaic of a place that has been victimised and stereotyped since the days of William the Conqueror. Incorporating social history, memoir and author interviews, Now Then is not a hagiography. Broadbent visits the scenes of industrial neglect and forgotten tragedy, as well as examining the truth about well-known Yorkshire figures and institutions. Featuring Kes, the Sheffield Outrages and the most controversial poem ever written, as well as a heroic dog, a lost albatross and a stuffed crocodile, Now Then is an affectionate but unsparing look at a county, its inhabitants and their flinty vowels.
This is a funny, wise and searching account of a place that claims to have given the world its first football club and England its last witch-burning. It does include cobbles, trumpets and stiff-necked, wilful obstinacy, but it is also about ordinary Yorkshire and its extraordinary lives.
Trade ReviewFrom Yorkshire? Who do you think you are? Cut through the cliches and seek the truth with
Now Then. Not from Yorkshire? Commiserations, but you can still enjoy some vicarious greatness by reading Rick's book. -- Tom Palmer, author of AFTER THE WAR and winner of the Ruth Rendell Award
A humorously honest, unsparing, celebratory biographical mosaic, not a hagiography. [...] Social history, memoir and reportage, high hills and flat vowels are woven into the mosaic of Yorkshire now and Yorkshire then, ordinary Yorkshire and its extraordinary lives. * The Press *
If you wish to know what social, cultural and historical erosions shaped the land we live on - a behind-the-scenes view of 'God's Own Country' - then look no further than
Now Then. * Dalesman *
Quite unputdownable. In
Now Then, Rick Broadbent has encapsulated the spirit of the folk and the mood of the places so perfectly. I was hooked from page one. Prodigiously researched with wit woven into the narrative, it recreates the raw atmosphere of the place that made me. Anyone born in the county should read it. It will help them understand just what they were born into. -- Alan Titchmarsh
As a Lancastrian, I should try and tell you that this is a terrible book. But it is not. A passionate but clear-eyed evocation of the 'Texas' of England that avoids 'God's Own Country' blather but is broad and rich enough to include Ted Hughes and Jarvis Cocker as well as Orgreave and Hillsborough. Excellent. -- Stuart Maconie
An enlightening, enjoyable and frequently very funny journey into what makes Yorkshire stand out from the crowd ... a fascinating insight into our wonderful region and the people that make it what it is. * Yorkshire Post *
Table of ContentsI: Prologue: Digging Up the Past 1: Outsiders 2: Workers 3: Writers 4: Miners 5: Minstrels 6: Artists 7: Yorkists 8: Stereotykes 9: Champions 10: Ramblers 11: Chefs 12: Pioneers 13: Legends 14: Seasiders 15: Now 16: Then Ii: Bibliography Iii: Acknowledgements
