PAGE 99, BY JOE BANCROFT - A NEW BOOK BY ECCLES AUTHOR MARTIN O' NEILL

I was delighted to receive a preview copy of a new book, with the intriguing title, Page 99 by local author, Joe Bancroft, or is it?

The book which could be described as "factional" if there is such a word is by none other than, Martin O' Neill who is an internationally known photographer who achieved fame with his photos of Joy Division performing at Bowdon Vale Youth Club way back in March 1979 and many other bands including The Smiths.

Martin has now retired and runs a Gite in France with his partner, I caught up with him to ask a few questions about the book.

He said:

Quote

 

"I'd already written a children's adventure story, and written and illustrated a series of children's picture books, so I suppose my next idea was (like everybody) to write an autobiography. The only problem is .. I'm not famous .. and, these days, no agent or publisher will go near a biography that's not written by a famous person. 

So, my twist on this was to expand the idea, turning it into a fictional tale of .. guess what? .. a photographer who wants to write a book! To that end, a lot of my life is written down in these pages, but a lot is completely made up and fictional, hopefully, the reader will have realised that by the time they get to the end of the book.

It's part fiction, part autobiography, with humour, sadness and a layer of nostalgia for the 'old days' of Manchester in the 1970s, I would also hope it's of interest as it describes the day-to-day life of a press photographer back in those hazy pre-digital days and to me it was a really exciting introduction to the big, wide world, having come from such a secluded background on the Brookhouse  Estate"

 

I have read the book and found it to be a delight as we follow the trials and tribulations of young Joe Bancroft as he stumbles his way through adolescence as a shy, skinny Catholic boy whose life is turned upside down when his parents split up when he was aged 11.

His tales of bullying at school, crushes on girls, sexual awakening, the sheer confusion of a shy young boy growing up are beautifully and hilariously written and struck a chord with me and will no doubt may other readers.

Young Joe after leaving school gets a dream job as a Press photographer and this is where his life is to be changed forever, meeting football stars, celebrities of the screen and stage and a great insight in the culture of the newspaper world pre-digital days, marvellous stuff.

Don't be thinking it's all light hearted whimsy and fun though, Joe has a gnawing passion for revenge, murder possibly? but has the boy turned into a man...

The book accurately dovetails episodes of Martin's real life experiences and merged them into Joe's in this coming of age book, which will appeal to people growing up in those long hot summers of the 1970s, and have memories of a Manchester that has long gone but still a pleasant memory.

Personally I loved the book and can't recommend it highly enough, I can relate to so much that Martin has written about, a joy to read, go on treat yourself to Page 99.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Page-Joe-Bancroft-Martin-ONeill/dp/B0B4BHW66W/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1656505467&sr=1-1