Customer Rating:
Summary: A book of two halves
Comment: For the most part, this book is entertaining and witty. Maconie's enthusiam for his subject is contagious and the stuff you are learning is genuinely interesting. Then he stops writing about Lancashire and starts on Yorkshire.

I can't help but think that this book would have been better if Maconie had stuck to what he knows, ie: the west side of the Pennines. Quite how, for example, he can make various claims about 'professional Yorkshiremen' (a dying breed anyway) and deny the existence of the Lancastrian equivalent is an unforgivable oversight that kind of gives away where Maconie's loyalties lie. They are not called 'professional Lancastrians' as such, but how many 'professional Scousers' and 'professional Mancs' could we name? Is Stuart Maconie's beloved Peter Kay not a great example of a professional Lancastrian? There's nothing wrong with that, and while such matters don't ruin the book, there is a real difference in Pies and Prejudice between the writing about Cheshire and Lancashire and the writing about the rest of 'the North'.

That, and a few errors that half-decent any sub would have picked up, aside, the book largely does what it sets out to do: entertain. Southerners that aren't as touchy as this reviewer will probably enjoy it all the more too.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and perceptive
Comment: This is a superb book; although it has the appearance of belonging to the recently emerged sub genre of humorous and slightly outrageous travel writing, it quickly become apparent that there's far more to it than that. Maconie takes us on a selective tour of the North of England, visiting both his old haunts and other key areas, such as Liverpool, Harrogate and other parts of Yorkshire. Along the way, there are recollections of various amusing personal incidents and a stock of good one-liners, but alongside these, there's a depth of historical, cultural, political and social information and analysis, which is both well researched and convincingly argued. Well worth reading.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Whose pies are they?
Comment: I was on a cruise and the comedian was Bobby Bennett. In a question and answer session someone mentioned that he had been mentioned in Stuart Maconie's Pies and Prejudice as he was the compare of Junior Showtime in the 1970s with people like Bonnie Langford and Pauline Quirke.

That led me to read this book. The jokes about the north south divided is a bit of a cliche for comedians but the cliches are all we can go on without any facts. This book goes someway towards giving us some facts.

He story about the Wigan liking of pies is quite good.

A Bolton man who breathlessly tells his workman from Wigan about a new lunchtime offer at local pub

" A pie , a pint and a woman for 80p" The Wiganer seems unimpressed 80p repeats his workmate excitedly
H'm declares the Wiganer warily " Whose pies are they?"

He went to Blackpool when he was young and said when on the train he took out a book and began to read. the whole carriage looked at him as if he had taken out a cuckoo clock or a lacrosse stick.

I learnt that Roger Whittaker had got it all wrong in the song Durham Town (the leavin') he said he sat on the banks of the river Tyne whereas it should have been the Wear.

I have visited quite a few of the places he mentions but only briefly. It makes me want to visit them all again. A perceptive look at the north by someone who knows what he is talking about.

He should now do a similar book about the south

He says the BBC has A northern correspondent and that it would be laughable if anyone thought they should have southern correspondent. the South views the North as some sort of foreign country that has to be explained to from London and the home counties.

A good read and I have ordered his Cider with Roadies. Well recommended.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Well written, enjoyable and informative
Comment: Overall I enjoyed reading this book and as others have said it certainly has inspired me to visit some of the places described. I liked the author's writing style and most of all I found most of the historical detail interesting and educational. However after reading through relatively huge sections on Liverpool, Manchester and Wigan I was disappointed to see places like Sheffield glossed over very briefly - surely Sheffield has more to offer than the time he spent discussing the National Museum of Pop Music?

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Customer Rating:
Summary: YES THERE IS A NORTH - SOUTH DIVIDE: WE CAN LAUGH AT OURSELVES AND SOUTHERNERS CAN'T!
Comment: BRILLIANT READ. OK - if you know the places Stuart writes about (I know the exact chippy he talks about down the road from Crewe station!) it helps but even if you don't and have never ventured north of Chalfont St Witless, it's still a great read. The two one star reviewers from "Darn Sarth" are obviously miffed at the fact that no-one can be bothered to write about "southerners" because, as Maconie points out early on in the book, there is not the strong identification of "being a southerner" as there is for those of us north of..well, according to Stuart it's north of Stoke.

It pokes fun of the north and does ask some tough questions at times but more than anything else, it is a great travelogue. Strike a light, Guv, you can't ask fairer than that....

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