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In his final instalment in his autobiographical trilogy, Robert Douglas takes us through the sixties and into the eighties with his memories of life as a prison officer, and, at the end of his career, as an electricity chargehand driving around the Yorkshire Dales. He tells us of his prison experiences, with anecdotes about many of the most famous criminals in British history – the Krays, the Richardsons, the Great Train Robbers, Soviet spies and many more.
Told in the same endearing and fascinating voice that readers of LAST SONG OF THE NIGHT TRAM and SOMEWHERE TO LAY MY HEAD first fell in love with, this volume continues the story of Robert’s remarkable journey of self-education, introducing us to larger-than-life characters on both sides of the bars, and evoking a strong sense of social change as Britain emerged from the post-War gloom into the bright lights of the Beatles years.
Told in the same endearing and fascinating voice that readers of LAST SONG OF THE NIGHT TRAM and SOMEWHERE TO LAY MY HEAD first fell in love with, this volume continues the story of Robert’s remarkable journey of self-education, introducing us to larger-than-life characters on both sides of the bars, and evoking a strong sense of social change as Britain emerged from the post-War gloom into the bright lights of the Beatles years.
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Reviews
'You feel as if you are standing alongside him, scanning the prison wings for trouble'
His straightforward prose makes the very ordinariness of a condemned man's final days and the speed at which the actual hanging takes place stick in the mind more effectively than any hand-wringing moralising would manage . . . It's a life as lived, honestly told, and worth a shelf full of self-serving political and celebrity false fronts
As emotional, funny and evocative as its predecessors, this will make you laugh, cry and buy copies for everyone youve ever known
'Warm, energetic...punchy'
Night Song of the Last Tram was one of the most moving autobiographies ever penned by a Scottish writer...Somewhere to Lay my Head takes up where that left off...Once again demonstrating an outstanding gift for evoking the atmosphere and emotions of a time gone by, this wonderfully talented storyteller takes us on a journey that he started as a boy and ended as a man
'It recreates stunningly clear memories of a Glasgow childhood...I laughed until the tears ran down my legs.'
A natural-born writer...pins down all-too-human characters in a sentence or two - and a number of times he made me laugh out loud. He also recaptures the late 1950s and early 1960s, rekindling memories for those of us who were there or thereabouts and bringing them alive for those who weren't
A well-written slice of social history delivered directly by an eyewitness
'If Blake Morrison is the Radio 4 of family memoir, then Robert Douglas is definitely the Radio 2'
A grace and assurance that turn everyday episodes into the stuff of romance.
With the ending of NIGHT SONG OF THE LAST TRAM, Douglas left us longing to find out what happened to his 16-year-old self, so cruelly cast out into the world. Now, in SOMEWHERE TO LAY MY HEAD, Douglas continues his story, portraying a bright and clever boy who never got the opportunities he deserved, but was still determined to make his way in the world
Exquisite