Stuart Maconie was born in Whiston in the county of Lancashire , England, in 1961. He is a BBC radio DJ and television presenter, and is the author of a number of books that explore the characteristics of the different regions of England. I particularly enjoyed reading Pies and Prejudice – In Search of the North. It explores, in a humorous manner, the social history and characteristics of northern (compared to southern) England, and in particular of the jealous rivalry between the two city giants, Liverpool and Manchester. I also attended the same sixth form college as Stuart Maconie, and at the same time. The place gets a mention, which gives it a bit of a personal twist for me.
Pies and Prejudice – In Search of the North (2007)
“People in Bulgaria think Gabrovo is funny. Pop into a bar in Sofia or Plovdiv and tell them you’re on your way to Gabrovo the clientele will slap their stocky thighs and spill their plum brandy in mirth. In Germany, they find the city of Emden a hoot; well, you know what they say about East Frisians. Parisians used to tell jokcs about the hopelessly provincial Toulouse while in the United States, the very mention of Peoria, Oshkosh or Dubuque – hick towns, as they are known — is guaranteed to split the collective sides of the David Letterman audience.
I come from a hick town. There are 100,000 people there, a third of a million if you count the borough, and at the time of writing we are the only town in Britain to have a Premiership football team and a Super League rugby side. But we are eternally, perennially, irredeemably hick. I only have to tell people in Guildford or Maidstone or Purfleet where I’m from and they begin to chortle, rolling the name around their mouth like an Uncle Joe’s Mint Ball. Wigan: the Gabrovo, the Emden, the Oshkosh of Britain.”
Published by Ebury Press
Featured image: Neil Kelly, Pixels.com
