England then and now with Chris Arnot

Coventry author, feature writer and Elementary Whatson reviewer, Chris Arnot, is about to launch his latest book, Coronation Streets, England Then and Now. Chris will be talking about his new book at Earlsdon Library on Saturday 15 April at 2pm. Entrance fee £5 which includes tea and cake.

Talking about this, his fourteenth book, Chris says: “A coronation looms. Another one. Well, to be more accurate, the second one in seventy years. In Coronation Streets, England Then and Now, I look back at the street parties of my early childhood in the early 1950s. In order to do that, I’ve enjoyed having to truffle out stories from other people “of a certain age” about what life was like back then.

“They grew up everywhere from Hartlepool to the south coast, via Manchester, Bradford, Birkenhead and many another town and city. To be honest, quite a few of them have long since moved to Coventry. As I’ve said before, it’s really a city of cultures, full of people from somewhere else with good stories to tell.

“The idea behind the book is to show how much life has changed. Largely for the better, it must be said. Yes, I’m well aware that many families today are struggling at a time of rampant inflation when food banks have become the only source of sustenance for some. But, to quote from the back-page summary:

‘We now live in a multicultural society with a food offering that would have seemed beyond belief in 1953. Post-war rationing was only just beginning to lift back then. Food was so basic that a tin of salmon seemed almost exotic. Millions of families lived with outside toilets and no bathrooms. Or indeed hot water.’

“For those of us who were ‘kids’ at the time, mind you, there were come compensations. Away from the main roads, passing traffic was something of a rarity. You could play in the street. Lampposts were there to be bowled at. Gutters were for playing marbles. Bomb sites and an abundance of building sites were there to be explored.”

So, here’s a chance for readers to explore two very different worlds: England then and now.

Coronation Streets is Chris Arnot’s fourteenth book since he co-wrote The Archers Archives for BBC Books. He wrote four of the ‘Britain’s Lost’ series for Aurum. Britain’s Lost Cricket Festivals was shortlisted for the Cricket Book of the Year awards in 2014. Small Island by Little Train was published by the AA and shortlisted for the Travel Book of the Year Awards in 2017.