{"title":"Books by Daniel Gray","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780008628925","title":"Sunday Best","description":"An evocative celebration of the seventh day in all its rich varietyClosed shops and roast dinners. Bulky newspapers and the hum of lawnmowers. Strolls to nowhere in particular and visiting snoozing grandparents. Television theme tunes cueing bath time and a sudden dread of the looming week ahead…Through an assortment of rituals and activities, Sundays came to be the unique day in our week – whether tedious, pleasant or somewhere in-between. But have they changed over time? Has anything interesting ever happened on a Sunday? Have we forgotten how to do Sunday? And, in our rushed modern lives, should we now try to recapture that distinctive, unhurried Sunday feel?Offering answers to those questions and more through a mix of travelogue and social history, Sunday Best entertainingly charts the story of what author Daniel Gray argues is the People’s Day. Told through Sundays whiled away in places from the Hebrides to Hyde Park – via Sunderland, Scarborough, the Peak District and beyond – Gray’s latest book is a charming journey in time and place.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685681734005,"sku":"9780008823771","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":55206023758197,"sku":"9780008628925","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780008823771.jpg?v=1792598827"},{"product_id":"9780008628888","title":"Food of the Cods","description":"\u003cp\u003eShortlisted for Debut Food Book of the Year at the Fortnum and Mason Food and Drink Awards 2024\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGuild of Food Writers 2024 Finalist, Food Book of the Year ‘A lyrical, amiable and educational celebration of what may be our greatest achievement: the chippy.’\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eStuart MaconieStep inside and unwrap this deliciously entertaining look at Britain’s national dish.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere is a corner of every town and city in Britain where the air is tangy with vinegar and the scent of frying. Following the irresistible lure, Daniel Gray ponders the magic of chippies and the delights they have sprinkled among us for the last 150 years as he investigates the social – and sociable – history of fish and chips.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTravelling to chippies from Dundee to Devon via South Shields, Oldham, Bradford, Bethnal Green, the Rhondda Valley and more – Daniel Gray explores our fish-and-chip nation to show how chippies have helped emancipate women, promote equality for immigrants and shape local and national identity. Whether you were raised eating scraps of Wolverhampton’s orange chips, London’s ‘wallies’ or Hull’s chip spice – even if you think you know whether tea, Vimto or dandelion and burdock is the best accompaniment – this mouth-watering book is as much about who we are as what we eat.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56221848961397,"sku":"9780008628888","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780008628888_7862b1c3-cd65-4320-9728-44e51e6d71a5.jpg?v=1785658647"},{"product_id":"9781399404068","title":"The Silence of the Stands","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023\u003cbr\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023 - FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Powerful and poignant’ Henry Winter\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘Empathetic and poignant … the game’s answer to \u003ci\u003eA Journal of the Plague Year\u003c\/i\u003e’ Harry Pearson\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e‘The Durham City midfielder wore the resigned look of a man trying to find a jar of harissa in Farmfoods. Up front for Jarrow, a centre-forward darted around frenetically, as if chasing a kite during a hurricane...’\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen football disappeared in March 2020, writer and broadcaster Daniel Gray used its absence to reflect on everything the game meant to him. That bred a pledge: whenever and wherever fans were allowed to return, he would be there. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Silence of the Stands\u003c\/i\u003e is the result of that pledge: a joyous travelogue documenting a precarious season, in which behind-closed-doors matches and travel restrictions combined to make trips to Kendal and Workington seem impossibly exotic.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOffering a poignant peek at a surreal age and a slab of social history from the two-metre-distanced tea bar queue, this is the moving, heartfelt and surprisingly uplifting story of a unique season that no one wishes to repeat.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56298284482933,"sku":"9781399404068","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399404068_92b38c66-95af-45bf-9ba7-df8190b9c279.jpg?v=1786019179"},{"product_id":"9781408830994","title":"Hatters, Railwaymen and Knitters","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDaniel Gray is about to turn thirty. Like any sane person, his response is to travel to Luton, Crewe and Hinckley. After a decade's exile in Scotland, he sets out to reacquaint himself with England via what he considers its greatest asset: football.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWatching teams from the Championship (or Division Two as any right-minded person calls it) to the South West Peninsula Premier, and aimlessly walking around towns from Carlisle to Newquay, Gray paints a curious landscape forgotten by many. He discovers how the provinces made the England we know, from Teesside's role in the Empire to Luton's in our mongrel DNA.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMoments in the histories of his teams come together to form football's narrative, starting with Sheffield pioneers and ending with fan ownership at Chester, and Gray shows how the modern game unifies an England in flux and dominates the places in which it is played.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eHatters, Railwaymen and Knitters\u003c\/i\u003e is a wry and affectionate ramble through the wonderful towns and teams that make the country and capture its very essence. It is part-football book, part-travelogue and part-love letter to the bits of England that often get forgotten, celebrated here in all their blessed eccentricity.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56298842620277,"sku":"9781408830994","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781408830994_3fecf682-f023-41b6-b5c5-fb14de1d5469.jpg?v=1786019798"},{"product_id":"9781408883945","title":"Scribbles in the Margins","description":"\u003cp\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKS ARE MY BAG READERS AWARDS!\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe lead increasingly time-poor lifestyles, bombarded 24\/7 by petrifying news bulletins, internet trolls and endless noises. Where has the joy and relaxation gone from our daily lives? \u003ci\u003eScribbles in the Margins\u003c\/i\u003e offers a glorious antidote to that relentless modern-day information churn. It is here to remind you that books and bookshops can still sing to your heart. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWarm, heartfelt and witty, here are fifty short essays of prose poetry dedicated to the simple joy to be found in reading and the rituals around it. These are not wallowing nostalgia; they are things that remain pleasurable and right, that warm our hearts and connect us to books, to reading and to other readers: smells of books, old or new; losing an afternoon organising bookshelves; libraries; watching a child learn to read; reading in bed; impromptu bookmarks; visiting someone’s home and inspecting the bookshelves; stains and other reminders of where and when you read a book.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAn attempt to fondly weigh up what makes a book so much more than paper and ink – and reading so much more than a hobby, a way of passing time or a learning process – these declarations of love demonstrate what books and reading mean to us as individuals, and the cherished part they play in our lives, from the vivid greens and purples of childhood books to the dusty comfort novels we turn to in times of adult flux. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eScribbles in the Margins\u003c\/i\u003e is a love-letter to books and bookshops, rejoicing in the many universal and sometimes odd little ways that reading and the rituals around reading make us happy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56299142775157,"sku":"9781408883945","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781408883945_8f84aea3-8b9b-47a9-a723-301f6c3495d8.jpg?v=1786019342"},{"product_id":"9781472925114","title":"Saturday, 3pm","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOverpaid players. Sunday lunchtime kick-offs. Absurd ticket prices. Non-black boots. Football’s menu of ills is long. Where has the joy gone? Why do we bother? \u003ci\u003eSaturday, 3pm\u003c\/i\u003e offers a glorious antidote. It is here to remind you that football can still sing to your heart. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003eWarm, heartfelt and witty, here are fifty short essays of prose poetry dedicated to what is good in the game. These are not wallowing nostalgia; they are things that \u003ci\u003eremain\u003c\/i\u003e sweet and right: seeing a ground from the train, brackets on vidiprinters, ball hitting bar, Jimmy Armfield’s voice, listening to the results in a traffic jam, football towns and autograph-hunters. This is fan culture at its finest, words to transport you somewhere else and identify with, words to hide away in a pub and luxuriate in.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eSaturday, 3pm\u003c\/i\u003e is a book of love letters to football and a clarion call, helping us find the romance in the game all over again.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56301063176565,"sku":"9781472925114","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472925114_dc4225b4-005b-4b68-acb0-aec02e461133.jpg?v=1786020610"},{"product_id":"9781804250334","title":"'Mon the Workers","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe postman and the primary teacher, the midwife and the musician. Workers in shops, workers at sea. Solidarity with the Columbian farmer and the Palestinian fireman…\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eModern trade unionists in Scotland perform roles in every imaginable location and are drawn from all backgrounds. They campaign to win on issues facing the colleague next to them or a comrade thousands of miles away.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e’Mon the Workers\u003c\/em\u003e tells their stories in their own words. It is a celebration of 125 years of the STUC, and a clarion call for the next generation to agitate, organise and win.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book demonstrates past achievements, explores the ideas trade unionists have fought for and rouses the movement towards future victories. 75 trade union members, reps and officials share experiences of union life from the anti-apartheid movement to Wick Wants Work. Alan McCredie’s charismatic portraits of 50 other activists from the trade union movement provide a complementary visual narrative.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis very human book pulses with the energy of Scotland’s trade union movement, which has achieved so much and still has more to do.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56307625689461,"sku":"9781804250334","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781804250334_9e9f3c71-41cf-459b-88b5-00d8fd44e802.jpg?v=1786027238"},{"product_id":"9781849173094","title":"A Life of Industry","description":"John R Hume is Scotland’s foremost expert on industrial heritage. John’s greatest passion was – and is – industry. Over the course of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, he took over 25,000 photographs of late-industrial and post-industrial Scotland. His collection is a remarkable portrait of a way of life that has now all but vanished. His drive to act as a witness to Scotland’s industrial empire, and its steady disintegration, took him to every corner of the country.John’s photography produces an exhaustive and objective record. Yet it also reveals remarkable and poignant glimpses of domestic life – children playing in factory ruins, high-rises emerging on the city skylines, working men and women dwarfed by the incredible scale of an already crumbling industrial infrastructure.In A Life of Industry, author Daniel Gray tells John’s story, and the story of what has been lost – and preserved.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308027392373,"sku":"9781849173094","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781849173094_6a731003-0514-4071-a025-eff7e237164e.jpg?v=1786029498"},{"product_id":"9781906817664","title":"Stramash","description":"\u003cp\u003eFatigued by bloated big-game football and bored of samey big cities, Daniel Gray went in search of small town Scotland and its teams. At the time when the Scottish club game is drifting towards its lowest ebb once more, \u003cem\u003eStramash\u003c\/em\u003e singularly fails to wring its hands and address the state of the game, preferring instead to focus on Bobby Mann's waistline. Part travelogue, part history and part mistakenly spilling ketchup on the face of a small child, \u003cem\u003eStramash\u003c\/em\u003e takes an uplifting look at the country's nether regions. Using the excuse of a match to visit places from Dumfries to Dingwall, Gray surveys Scotland's towns and teams in their present state. \u003cem\u003eStramash\u003c\/em\u003e accomplishes the feats of visiting Dumfries without mentioning Robert Burns, being positive about Cumbernauld and linking Elgin City to Lenin. It is a fond look at Scotland as you've never seen it before.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56308720468341,"sku":"9781906817664","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781906817664_aebbb9d9-f712-4f0e-8d46-a54da1fb978a.jpg?v=1786029190"},{"product_id":"9781913025366","title":"Homage to Caledonia","description":"\u003cp\u003eShortlisted for the History Book of the Year category of the 2009 Saltire Literary Awards\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Spanish Civil War was a call to arms for 2,300 British volunteers, of which over 500 were from Scotland. The first book of its kind, \u003cem\u003eHomage to Caledonia\u003c\/em\u003e examines Scotland's role in the conflict, detailing exactly why Scottish involvement was so profound. The book moves chronologically through events and places, firstly surveying the landscape in contemporary Scotland before describing volunteers' journeys to Spain, and then tracing their every involvement from arrival to homecoming (or not). There is also an account of the non-combative role, from fundraising for Spain and medical aid, to political manoeuvrings within the volatile Scottish left. Using a wealth of previously-unpublished letters sent back from the front as well as other archival items, Daniel Gray is able to tell little known stories of courage in conflict, and to call into question accepted versions of events such as the 'murder' of Bob Smillie, or the heroism of 'The Scots Scarlet Pimpernel'. \u003cem\u003eHomage to Caledonia\u003c\/em\u003e offers a very human take on events in Spain: for every tale of abject distress in a time of war, there is a tale of a Scottish volunteer urinating in his general's boots, knocking back a dram with Errol Flynn or appalling Spanish comrades with his pipe playing. For the first time, read the fascinating story of Caledonia's role in this seminal conflict.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56309075935605,"sku":"9781913025366","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781913025366_217da768-c4b5-4492-8013-19b8f67a084a.jpg?v=1786030556"},{"product_id":"9781909430624","title":"Cup Tied","description":"One hundred and fifty years after it was first contested, photographer Alan McCredie and writer Daniel Gray spent the 2023\/24 football season seeking out the charms of the modern Scottish Cup. Travelling to matches from hamlet to Hampden, they found them in abundance. Blending McCredie's captivating pictures and Gray's lyrical words, Cup Tied is an enchanting celebration of our national game. The book captures small town teams as their communities are lured by the Cup's everlasting pull. Cup Tied is an elegant voyage among giantkillers and cup runs and weekend plans sparked by the words: 'And that concludes the draw...' In the mould of McCredie and Gray's hugely successful book Snapshot, it is a football documentary in print.\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Hardback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56309097726325,"sku":"9781909430624","price":24.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781909430624_94e60f56-41a0-4a76-8d77-3378383127c6.jpg?v=1786029525"},{"product_id":"fanzine","title":"Fanzine","description":"\u003cp\u003e‘A love letter to an era that needed its story told' – \u003cb\u003eJosh Widdicombe\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘This is an absolutely fabulous book' – \u003cb\u003eDuncan Hamilton\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe vivid story of the fanzine movement that gave supporters a voice and changed football forever\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDemonised and left to watch games in decrepit stadiums, life as a football supporter in the 1980s was a demoralising experience. While some fans turned to violence, many more turned to typewriters, Tippex and staple guns to create a mass movement that transformed a bleak time into a hopeful one.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAdopting a DIY punk ethos, fanzine founders spread their pages across the land. Their funny, articulate and occasionally scandalous creations were sold outside grounds from Inverness to Torquay, with most British clubs covered – sometimes by multiple titles. These inky mouthpieces questioned the old order, frightening those who ran the game and provoking many a banning.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThrough extensive archival research and interviews, \u003ci\u003eFanzine\u003c\/i\u003e tells the story of the phenomenon during its boom years. It offers an alternative history of football in a monumental period – from Heysel to the Premier League, via Hillsborough and Italia ’90 – as witnessed from the stands. Deploying fans’ colourful and often sardonic words, \u003ci\u003eFanzine\u003c\/i\u003e transports readers back to the terraces of old, for better or worse – bad Bovril and suspect pies are never far away.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTold in book form for the first time, \u003ci\u003eFanzine\u003c\/i\u003e is the poignant, nostalgic and absorbing story of an era that changed going to the match forever.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57503594807669,"sku":"9781399431705","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781399431705.jpg?v=1786867302"},{"product_id":"extra-time","title":"Extra Time","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFEATURED IN \u003ci\u003eTHE SCOTSMAN\u003c\/i\u003e'S SPORT BOOKS OF 2020\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA collection of lyrical sweet-nothings whispered to late goals, local radio commentators, referees falling over and 47 other reminders of why we love football.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDespite its flaws and excesses, modern football is still sprinkled with simple yet beguiling delights. In his previous book \u003ci\u003eSaturday, 3pm\u003c\/i\u003e, Daniel Gray captured many of them. Now he is back with a further 50 short essays of prose poetry dedicated to the game’s charming, technicolour minutiae. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom club lottos to undeserved wins, and from pitch-invading animals to the roar after a minute’s silence, \u003ci\u003eExtra Time \u003c\/i\u003eis another romantic celebration of football fandom and its shared joys, habits, eccentricities and peculiarities. It is a salute to keepers going forward for corners, match balls landing on stand roofs and goals scored in quick succession. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThese chapters offer a gleeful antidote to disillusionment with modern football, VAR and all. They are reminders of why we care and justifications for our devotion. Each warmly evokes this sport’s blessed capacity to offer escape and diversion. Let us share the delight once more.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57503606604149,"sku":"9781399434256","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-daniel-gray.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}