Top

We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.

Tales From the Back Green

On sale

6th August 2009

Price: £7.99

Select a format

Selected: ebook / ISBN-13: 9781848945777

Disclosure: If you buy products using the retailer buttons above, we may earn a commission from the retailers you visit.

When these captivating Tales from the Back Green were broadcast on BBC Radio they were described by The Herald as ‘a vividly engaging portrait of a vanished city’ and The Scotsman as ‘an engaging series fondly and wittily rendered’.

Now published for the first time, actor Bill Paterson’s stories brilliantly evoke his 1950s Glasgow boyhood. This is a world of intriguing characters and extraordinary events set against the background of the changes and challenges of the post-war era – the nuclear threat, the fading dominance of the kirk, Rock and Roll, the disappearance of the beloved trams, and why penny whoppers were not worth tuppence. As a young surveyor, Paterson was witness to the dramatic transformation of the city, as austere tenements were swept away to make way for new roads and high-rise blocks.

Tales From the Back Green is a brilliant realisation of childhood and youth; of memories Paterson describes as ‘suspended in amber like Jurassic Park’s mosquito, with its DNA still intact.’ He wonders whether our memories change from grey to gold as the years pass – do we naturally recall our childhood as a time of optimism and hope?

What's Inside

Read More Read Less

Reviews

<i>Daily Mail</i>
Magical . . . exquisitely funny . . . evocative
<i>Herald</I>
Pithy, colourful, and sometimes very funny . . . anyone who lived through the social and economic upheaval of Glasgow in the 1950s and 60s will find something in Tales from the Back Green that will strike a chord, be it major or minor.
<i>Guardian</i>
Sharp, funny, unsentimental. Great stuff.
<i>Daily Express</i>
Affectionate, and beautifully written and narrated.
<i>Saga Magazine</i>
Warmly nostalgic
<i>Tribune</i>
As cosy and comforting as hot buttered toast on a cold winter's morning, and none the worse for that. This unashamedly nostalgic collection is a fine and gentle piece of work.