News, events and new titles from Bristol Books this September
Robin Prytherch – A Life with buzzards Q&A
Lyndon Roberts, who compiled and edited our latest book: “Robin Prytherch: A Life With Buzzards” talks about the publication. A full version of this interview can be read here:
What was special about Robin Prytherch?
“Robin Prytherch was a man with a passion for birds and one in particular – the common buzzard. He was an old-school field naturalist, arguably one of a dying breed. For more than 40 years rain or shine, armed with a cheese sandwich, a flask of coffee, a pair of binoculars and a telescope and a telescope, he headed out to watch them. “
How did the book come about?
“A group of his friends felt that there was something missing from Robin’s legacy. While his painstaking studies of buzzards was well known to ornithologists through the talks that he gave and articles he wrote In British Birds, the intimate connection he formed with his subject matter was less well known, except to those who were lucky enough to receive his buzzard-themed Christmas cards which combined his own illustrations with fascinating commentary about the birds he studied.”
What was unique about his work with Buzzards?
“He had an ability to distinguish individual birds in the field and to document their often-complex life histories including, in many cases, their demise. Most of the buzzards Robin studied were individually named by him; he was able to recognize them by observing their plumage variations and other characteristics.”
Harry’s story back in print
Harry Dolman OBE was a brilliant inventor and draughtsman, who became a millionaire through his skills before dedicating nearly 40 years of his life to his beloved Bristol City Football Club – where a stand bears his name today.
Now back in print, Harry Dolman: The Millionaire Inventor Who Became “Mr Bristol City”, by Martin Powell and Clive Burlton, was written in co-operation with Harry’s widow, Marina Dolman MBE, President of Bristol City FC, who said: “During research for the book, I was thrilled to re-discover Harry’s hand-written notes with his version of events.
The book describes how Harry rose from his humble rural roots in Wiltshire to a Rolls Royce-driving multi-millionaire with more than 100 patents to his name, from London Underground ticket machines to egg grading machines, a laundry marking system and a coin slot roulette wheel. He even built a Flying Flea single-seat, ultra-light, aircraft, which is now on display in the M Shed museum.
Sex, drugs and rock and roll
“The West’s Greatest Rock Shows” is a fantastic hard-back book chronicling lost, forgotten and previously untold eye-opening tales from gigs you’ll wish you had seen around the West Country between 1963 and 1978.
Robin Askew, who spent more than 40 years writing about film and music in Bristol, has uncovered the best anecdotes of gigs by the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Queen, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Led Zepp3eling, Jimi Hendrix...and yes, many many more!
As Tim Davey, who reviewed Deep Purple for the Evening Post, recently wrote to the author: “I am writing to say how very grateful I am to you and your marvellous book for reminding me precisely where I was on the night of February 13, 1971.
“It must have been James Belsey’s night off (or he didn’t fancy it!). I often deputised for him but, because my girlfriend (now wife) Sue, and myself were up for reviewing and the Western Daily Press had no one much interested in rock/pop culture I wrote loads of reviews for them and they were quite often uncredited as my name appeared daily in their sister paper. That was me reviewing Bowie at the Hall for them in ’73, for example.
Back in the Sixties when I was a country dwelling Mod and teenage cub reporter in rural Gloucestershire I saw Otis, Stevie Wonder, Ike and Tina Turner, Ray Charles and many, many, great American soul and Motown artists on stage in Bristol and at the legendary Blue Moon Club in Cheltenham High Street where the backing band Bluesology was led by a certain Reg Dwight and the backing singers were R.Stewart, L.J. Baldry and Ms J Driscoll. Quite a line-up. I saw Jimi Hendrix there, too, when Hey Joe had just entered the charts.
Anyway, sorry to bore the hell out of you, but it’s the least you can expect for writing such wonderful memory-provoking stuff.”
Happy Birthday Steve
Former Bristol City player Steve Stacey celebrated his 80th birthday this week. His remarkable story is told in The Colour of Football (£12)
The son of a GI from Kemper County, Mississippi, the killing fields of black America and a woman from Bristol, he was given the middle name Darrow, after a black rights advocate.
His 40-year ancestry search underpins his rise through the football leagues. It’s all here, the dressing room banter, the famous names, the injuries as Steve plied his trade with Bristol City, Wrexham, Ipswich, and Exeter then breaking more boundaries as one of the first black footballers in Australia playing for Floreat Athena in Perth.
Steve Stacey rose from kicking a ball in the gaslit streets of post-war Bristol to running out in the topflight of English football. Often the only black face in the team he was the first African-American to grace the professional English game.
