{"title":"Ian Marchant","description":"Ian Marchant has worked for twenty-five years as a writer, broadcaster and performer. His non-fiction books include Parallel Lines, The Longest Crawl and A Hero for High Times, which was long-listed for the Gordon Burn Prize. Ian has presented numerous broadcasts for Radio 3 and Radio 4, in particular on psycho-geography and contemporary rural affairs. He is an intermittent presenter on Radio's long-running Open Country, and a regular diarist for the Church Times. He has written for the Guardian, the Observer, the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Times. He has made numerous appearances as a guest speaker, compere, quizmaster and lounge singer, and is also a creative writing tutor and guest speaker for the Arvon Foundation. He lives in Presteigne with his family.","products":[{"product_id":"one-fine-day-a-journey-through-english-time-paperback","title":"One Fine Day: A Journey Through English Time - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA time-travelling, genealogical adventure, bringing pre-industrial, rural, eighteenth-century England vividly to life on the page. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eOne day Ian Marchant, acclaimed author of books on music, railways and pubs, decided, as all men of a certain age must, to have a dig around his family history. Surprisingly quickly, a web search informed him that his seven-times-great great-grandfather, Thomas Marchant had left a detailed diary from 1714 to 1728. So far, so jolly ... \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLife-loving diarist Thom - who liked a drink and a game of cards - feels recognisably Marchant to Ian. With fascinating detail we learn about Thom's family farm and fishponds; about dung, horses and mud; about beer, the wife's nights out, his own job troubles and their shared worries for their children. But as Ian digs deeper beyond the Sussex diary's bucolic portrait he discovers a subtext - a family descended from immigrants, with anti-establishment politics, who are struggling with illness, political instability and cash crises - just as their country does three centuries on. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cem\u003e'When I was reflecting late one January evening on the differences between Thom and me, I realised the unbridgeable thing that comes between us is industrialisation. He lived right at its beginning, while I am living somewhere towards its end. Old Thom Marchant was one of the last people before industrialisation to understand how his world worked - and how to be largely self-sufficient in it. He knew where his food came from, his fuel, his water, his clothes. He knew how the welfare system worked, and was part of its administration; he knew who looked after the roads, too. He collected taxes. He was not separate from the system, but part of it.' \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/em\u003eRich with immersive detail, \u003cem\u003eOne Fine Day\u003c\/em\u003e draws a living portrait of Marchant family life in the 1720s and how their England (rainy, muddy, politically turbulent, illness-ridden) became the England of the 2020s. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Elegiac, consistently funny, deeply moving.' - Richard Beard \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'Ian Marchant is one of England's most original writers. \u003cem\u003eOne Fine Day\u003c\/em\u003e is a masterwork.' - Monique Roffey\u003c\/strong\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51434094067935,"sku":"9781914613555","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/fUORtUPZ1a9781914613555.webp?v=1790024298"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/ian-marchant.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}