310 pages into a wonderful book. 'The Road To Nab End: A Lancashire Childhood' by the historian William Woodruff. It's a colourful, vibrant, gripping and warm account of the hell that was working class life in northern industrial Britain less than a century ago. It's a real page-turner.
Yesterday I was laughing aloud at the bit where an angry farmer lets 14-year-old 'Billy Boy' keep the 'stray' Collie that randomly adopted him one day. And then I was thinking 'I really must look him up and see if he's still living'. I've been meaning to for a couple of weeks. But, in a rather sad coincidence, it turns out that he died on Tuesday at the wonderfully ripe age of 92.
William Woodruff 1916 - 2008
What a great bloke
