Please, Mr Postman, Alan Johnson's follow-up to This Boy,

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Please, Mr Postman, Alan Johnson's follow-up to This Boy, tells of life in 1970s Post Office

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MANY are tipping him to return to Labour's front bench team if his party wins next year's general election. But a more certain bet is a return to the bestsellers' charts when Alan Johnson's second memoir is published next month.

The Hull West and Hessle MP's autobiographical debut, This Boy, remains high in the charts more than a year after first appearing on bookshop shelves.

As well as being a hit with readers, his memoir of his childhood growing up in London during the 1950s and 1960s has also won a number of literary awards.

Now a follow-up called Please, Mr Postman is due to be published next month.


He said: "When I wrote the first book I didn't really think about doing a second one.

"However, after the first one took off my publisher asked me if I could do another one.

"It sort of made sense to continue the story I started in This Boy.

"It also gave me the chance to recall what it was like working for the General Post Office as it was back then.

"A few years ago I did a project with the BBC for one of its educational channels about the role of the Post Office during the First World War.

"The book provided the opportunity to really give a good portrait of what it was like when I first joined in 1968.

"Looking back, it had not really changed for over 100 years and things were probably much the same as they had been during the First World War.

"Everything was still done by hand, there was no automation or technology involved."

Mr Johnson said a wealth of larger-than-life characters who worked at the Post Office made writing the book a pleasure.

"A lot of the guys who were there when I started were ex-servicemen who had fought in the Second World War.

"There were veterans from the famous battles of Dunkirk and Monte Casino and then there was me, a 21-year-old, with three kids to support."

Although the book charts his life from 1968 to becoming an MP in 1987, he admits much of its focus is on the 1970s.

"There is a lot about the trade unionism of the day because that's what the 1970s were about in many ways," says Mr Johnson

"You don't forget being on strike for several weeks without any pay when you are trying to bring up a young family."

He admits the central character from his first book is notable by her absence from the follow-up.

"The heroine in the first book was my mum, but by the time of the new book she had died," says Mr Johnson.

"The other main character from the first book is my sister Linda and so many people have asked me what she did next. Well, in the new book you find out exactly what Linda got up to next!"

[DB1100]

I would rather read the courier.