Book they tried to kill finally comes out of the darkness

Stoke-d by Controversy
A long-awaited travel book on Stoke-on-Trent described as offensive, objectionable and inappropriate by one of the UK's leading p blishing ho ses - is abo t to get its first p blic airing! The book, " t of the #arkness, takes a road-trip ro nd Staffordshire revealing how it changed fro$ the ancient gri$e and s$og-ridden ho$e of the world fa$o s pottery ind stry to beco$e a b rgeoning centre for co$$erce and the arts! %t's a personal jo rney ro nd the Si& Towns for writer and broadcaster 'eigh ( )anks which began in the early *+,-s when as a child he visited Trentha$ (ardens with his grand$other, Ada! 'ater, he beca$e a fan of ) rsle$'s .orthern So l fa$e and in the book he talks vividly abo t his e&periences at the notorio s *+/-s 0ollywood rock festival near 'eek! %n the *++-s he pped sticks fro$ 1anchester and $oved to Staffordshire b t it wasn't ntil beginning to research " t of the #arkness in 2-** he discovered that $any of his ancestors hailed fro$ Slindon, near 3ccleshall! 'eigh said4 5%t was clear $y grand$other was drawn to the Si& Towns altho gh she never told $e abo t o r fa$ily connections! ) t every chance we'd get we'd j $p on a b s or a train fro$ 1anchester and visit for the day! 5% s ppose beca se % ca$e fro$ a dirty old city like 1anchester % was never offended by the gri$e of Stoke b t what % was fascinated by even as a child were the b ildings and the architect re! % fo nd it all $ajestic! 5% wo ld wander the streets for ho rs j st looking p, looking p 6 that's part of the ethos of the book, look p in the Si& Towns, $ ch of the history is above yo r head in the frie7es and inscriptions on the b ildings!8 Three years ago 'eigh got a call fro$ the international p blisher, the 0istory 9ress, co$$issioning hi$ to write a book on the towns! 5% didn't approach the$ with the idea, they ca$e to $e,8 'eigh said4 5% liked the tho ght of taking a look at the towns, their history and how they'd changed against a backdrop of $y childhood!8 )y chance 'eigh, fro$ :oodseaves, near 3ccleshall, $et p with photographer %an 9earsall at )arewall (alleries, ) rsle$, where he was e&hibiting so$e of his art-photos of the Si& Towns! 'eigh said4 5% love his work, it capt res the heart of area, the starkness, the darkness, the gri$e and the gloo$ b t then he t rns it into so$ething glorio s and heart-lifting! :e hit it off and decided to collaborate!8 %an, aged ;;, fro$ .ewcastle, said4 5%t see$ed a brilliant opport nity, we tho ght the sa$e abo t the con rbation, we co ld both see its dark side b t also the over-powering bea ty of the project!8 ) t last year things started to go wrong!

5" t of the #arkness was being advertised on A$a7on and on all the $ajor book sites, we'd been given a la nch day and had arranged a ven e and a co ple of l crative deals with $ajor stores and then, o t of the bl e, the r g was p lled fro$ nder s! %t was a real shock!8 <orrespondence fro$ the $anaging director of the 0istory 9ress, 1r Ti$ #avies, said 'o r advisers share o r view that $ ch of the content of yo r book $ay be considered offensive, objectionable or inappropriate by so$e readers and conse= ently $ay har$ the rep tation of The 0istory 9ress, and potentially da$age o r relationship with both o r readers and o r trade c sto$ers'! >They were objecting to phrases and paragraphs in the book incl ding4

9 bs reeked on every corner! Stoke was beco$ing a sl $ while the ?ictorian s per-rich lived in i$posing elevated red brick $ansions! They were closer to (od p there! 'et@s begin at Trentha$@s highly technical new ro nd-abo t with it@s do7en or so dr nken la$pposts and its already gri$y black and white road sign pointing to all the roads that lead to the heart of this story!

'eigh said4 5The objection to the description of the Trentha$ ro nd-abo t was the f nniest tho ghA :ho in their right $ind wo ld be offended by the description of dr nken la$pposts what if we'd said they were bentA 5:e co ldn't believe it 6 %'ve $ade $y living as a writer for $ore than B- years and %an is a s ccessf l photographer, we're not a$ate rs and know e&actly what we are doing! :hy they adopted that attit de to the book % will never really nderstand! ) t it was that i$portant to the$ not to p blish they broke the contract and paid s off!8 %an said4 5At first it see$ed like that was that and we'd both wasted o r ti$e then we had the idea of to ring the pict res and words ro nd local galleries! %t gives people the chance to see o r work, see what we prod ced and tell s if they are really offended! :e are act ally bringing o r art to the streets of Stoke-on-Trent!8 )eca se of the disappoint$ent over the abandoning of the book 'eigh decided to record a radio show to fill his $ sic spot on )ree7e Cadio la$pooning the 0istory 9ress and e&plaining what had gone wrong! 0e said4 5A lot of people were interested and a n $ber of book shops had p t in orders and a $ajor s per$arket had wanted to stock it, so we tho ght we'd better let people know what had gone on! 9eople heard % was going to do the show and started sending in re= ests % ended p playing $ sic by 'egendary 'onnie, 'e$$y, Cobbie and even Dackie TrentA %t's a really good show!8 Eo can see e&tracts fro$ the book and photographs at a $onth-long e&hibition being hosted by the Fest <afe )istro, in 0anley, opposite The Cegent Theatre fro$ April 22 with opening night with a thor 'eigh ( )anks and photographer %an 9earsall is on April 2;! (et a preview at http4GGwww!flowerbo&!org! kG 'isten to The Trip on www!bree7e-radio!co$ - it's tells the whole storyA For more info call Leigh G Banks, leighgbanks1@gmail.com 'isten to The Trip on www!bree7e-radio!co$ - it's tells the whole storyA