Streets Ahead

by Waterhouse

Continuing the first volume of his memoirs in "City Lights", Keith Waterhouse records his arrival in Fleet Street in the early 1950s. He evokes an almost Dickensian world of clanking printing works, but one in which he sensed profound social change was soon to manifest itself in an explosion of New Wave books, plays and films like "Lucky Jim", "Look Back in Anger" and his own "Billy Liar". Reliving the excitement of its success, his partnership with Willis Hall, writing for the theatre, screen and television, and their sojourn in Hollywood, Waterhouse creates an impression of an eventful and exhausting era.

Genres: Biography

336 pages, Paperback

First published October 5, 1995

Reviews

[Julie Balfour · Rating 5 out of 5]

My love affair with Keith W continues.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of England's finest writers by way of print journalism & a tough background & childhood & youth, in broadest Yorkshire (Leeds!), this very entertaining memoir just delights with its colourful & revealing exposes of Fleet Street from the late 1950s, to the beginning of the end for the print-workers who held the pen-pushers & single-finger typists in their iron grip. New technology...new horizons...& doldrums...
(I once met a young, cricketing bloke in his 20s who rolled-up one afternoon in a vintage Rolls-Royce...'a couple of mates knew a toff in financial straits...£2000...but no chauffeur!....', but worked 2 hours a night as a 'print mechanic'...but spent most of his working hours getting... 'ha'-pist' in the drinking dens that lined the street named after a glorified ditch which carried filth into the Thames at Blackfriars...'nuff said.
Keith Waterhouse fills us in on some of the shenanigans of being a working journalist...from the provinces suddenly at ease in London's newspaper artery...dark arts some of them!
Naturally, I put the cart before the horse - this is his second volume of memoirs after 'City Lights' in 1994 had won some critical acclaim...as Keith himself had done in novels, plays & other literary & entertainment gems...often on the boards...& often with famous names... - but no damage done...as I have the first volume to read now, acquired for a few new shillings (75p!) in a charity shop!
I can't wait to uncover more about a street I often strolled down after a seminar at L.S.E., soaking up the moist whiffs of ink & alcohol. I seriously contemplated a career in journalism but drew back from the precipice of print when I met some hard-baked newspapermen...& could barely breathe or get a word in edgewise! Wise decision...but I have my regrets that I missed the chance to share a pint & a point-of-view with the legendary Waterhouse.
This was one hell of a read!

[Mick Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good pt2 of a biography of the author and screen writer.starts off in his job as a reporter,then joining forces with Willis hall.surprised anything got written as they spent quite a bit of time in the pub.but they did it.