The People of Providence: A housing estate and some of its inhabitants

by Tony Parker

Over a period of eighteen months Tony Parker interviewed the residents of an ordinary housing estate in South London. He listened to an assorted mixture of personalities - including a vagrant, two policemen, an often-convicted fence who was the mother of five children, a pro-flogging magistrate, a local doctor, and a 75-year-old widower who spent ‘an hour or two in bed each week with one or other of about twelve different ladies I meet at our church’. The inhabitants of ‘Providence’ opened their hearts, revealing all their quirks, emotions and prejudices. These interviews prove that extraordinary stories are found not only in deserts and jungles: even amid the bleak sprawl of South London, Tony Parker discovered a community that is diverse and enthralling

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Book Club, London

482 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 16, 1983

About the author

Tony Parker (25 June 1923 – 3 October 1996) was an oral historian whose work was dedicated to giving a voice to British and American society's most marginalised figures, from single mothers to lighthouse keepers to criminals, including murderers.

Born in Stockport, Cheshire, Parker was a conscientious objector during World War II, and directed to work in a coal mine. He moved to London and worked as a publisher's representative at Odhams Press. He campaigned against capital punishment and became very interested in prisons and their occupants, eventually focussing on the experiences of prisoners after release.

Tony Parker died in Westleton, Suffolk, having just completed his study of his American counterpart Studs Terkel.

Reviews

[Seymour Glass]

An amazing historial document and definitely one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. Written as a collection of interviews with various people living on an enormous south London housing estate in the early 1980s, it conveys the breadth of people and attitudes to be found in any one place. There's some shocking racism on display here, as well as great acceptance, abuse, tales of unimaginably hard lives, burgeoning feminism and, despite it all, profound happiness and contentment. The book represents a fair cross-section of society, from moneyed professionals to penniless squatters and it's incredible to think that it's all true. My only criticism would be that it is too long and some of the interviews with the workers on the estate get too bogged down in the particulars of procedure - the draw of a piece like this is the humanity of it, the gritty realness of ordinary people's lives. Perhaps the long descriptions of administrative work shows the boredom the workers endure but I could have done without it.
Overall though, a fascinating read I feel really lucky to have stumbled across.

[Ruth]

Fabulous book. Fascinating insight into a London housing estate and its inhabitants in the late 70s and early 80s. Parker is a gifted and intuitive social historian with a skill in getting people from a wide range of backgrounds to open up and talk about their inner lives as well as the lives they present to the world.

[Deborah]

This is such an exceptional work of social history it's a shame to see it with so few reviews. Sociologist and writer Tony Parker spent his working life recording oral histories from ordinary people living in environments with specific or unusual challenges - here 'Providence' (a pseudonym for the Brandon housing estate in Southwark) - and elsewhere: Troubles-era Belfast, prisons and a series of lighthouses. The interviews are transcribed in vignettes, using pseudonyms, and occasionally adding short, revealing descriptions of the interviewees or their homes.

Researched over five years and published in 1983, the book provides a truly intriguing insight into England during the 1970s and 1980s. The first thing that struck me was the resilience and gratitude of the 'people of Providence' for their housing, provided by an extraordinarily approachable and pragmatic Greater London Council: the legendary GLC of Ken Livingstone. Most had moved from the slums that were being pulled down from the 1960s onwards to accommodation in an assortment of high-rise, low-rise, blocks, prefabs and what Parker calls 'the posh bit'. There's a striking absence of grievance here that contrasts with current times. This doesn't mean it's a comfortably nostalgic read: some express with candour brutally racist ('racialist' in the terminology of the time) beliefs in terms that, I am sorry to say, are only too familiar in the 2020s after the briefest of respites in the 1990s and early 2000s. The feminism of the 1970s comes over more strongly in interviews with young women: how curious to see this emerging consciousness confronting the traditional wives, whose naivety in respect of their husbands' frequent absences slowly evolves during the course of the conversation to acknowledge infidelity and betrayal. These poignant moments of honesty demonstrate Parker's genius for allowing his informants to reach for their deepest feelings.

Parker gives a rounded picture as he also interviewed those in authority, including a police officer, housing officer, teachers, and the local vicar, and 'outsiders', such as the members of an anarchist commune living in a derelict house due for demolition (amazingly, the GLC routinely allowed this, provided the occupants paid for the electricity supply!), 'Tony', a terrifying character straight out of A Clockwork Orange, and 'Billy Bottle', the perpetually inebriated drunkard that is no longer visible as they were in my childhood.

All human life is here, with some memorable interviewees - the joyful bachelor who invites his friends to parties on 'the Starlight Roof' of his 'penthouse'; the neatly dressed, respectable single mum in her gleaming flat where 'everything is paid for' and who, it gradually emerges, is a prostitute who abuses her children; poor lonely 'Audrey', who tells Parker 'It's something to find out I can still talk', and perhaps most wonderfully, 'Mr Cross', who is always 'just passing through' and, it transpires, lives itinerantly around the estate, sleeping in boiler rooms and breakfasting at the homes of a variety of sympathetic women who also seem obliged unprompted to 'prune their husbands' wardrobes' to equip Mr Cross with, in his words, 'an unfailingly regular supply of male clothing'.

I could go on: it really is a wonderful read and a generous 4 stars from me.

[Ben Jefferies]

This is an extraordinary achievement and addictively readable. The writer interviewed 50 people who lived or worked on an estate in south London during the early 1980s. You might expect the result to feel fragmentary but his skill is in creating a coherent and powerful whole.

He clearly has invested in gaining the trust of his participants and you really feel people are revealing themselves as honestly as they can. The racism of some of the participants is shocking, as is the sense of hopelessness some express, particularly the women.

[Artie LeBlanc]

A clever idea, very well carried out - a substantial record of life on an enormous GLC estate in the mid 80s. It is a great achievement to have developed the trustful relationships with a large number of residents, and to convey their feelings in a way that seems both non-judgmental and honest.

Highly recommended.

[Caryatid]

Very absorbing, clear and well laid out. Congratulations to the author for style and objectiveness, not an easy job dealing with so many people and opinions.