{"title":"Nicholas Whittaker","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into the darkly comic world of Nicholas Whittaker, a master of the modern memoir. Experience his poignant and hilarious tales of life, loss, and the enduring power of the human spirit. Start reading now.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"platform-souls-book-nicholas-whittaker-9780575059818","title":"Platform Souls","description":"An insider's perspective on the world of the trainspotter. A variety of topics, such as station and locomotive design, lesser-known titles in the Ian Allan catalogue, dieselization, Beeching's legacy and the ramifications of privatization, are covered.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49518614610193,"sku":"GOR001323641","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0575059818.jpg?v=1751073506"},{"product_id":"platform-souls-book-nicholas-whittaker-9781848319899","title":"Platform Souls","description":"Nicholas Whittaker's much-loved classic recollects the long sunny days of his childhood when, notepad in hand, jam sandwiches in the duffel bag, he happily spent his time jotting down train numbers during the Indian summer of steam and the heyday of diesel.  Whittaker returns to his roots in this updated edition, casting a sceptical eye over recent developments, catching up with old acquaintances and considering the toll that half a century of ridicule and a couple of decades of privatisation have wrought upon his beloved pastime.  As Andrew Martin notes in his Foreword, this is 'one of the best books ever written about rail enthusiasm'. Equally it is a poetically written memoir of growing up in a more innocent age, a hymn to British eccentricity and to the virtues of observing the world around you: 'Spotters - of trains, planes, buses or birds - are a last redoubt for something rapidly vanishing from our lives: looking outward, seeing, observing. People notice things less and less these days, while watching things more and more.'  Praise for the first edition:  'An elegy: for the steam trains already vanishing when Whittaker's hobby began in 1964; for the short-lived diesel age which followed; for an era of near innocence.' Times Literary Supplement   'Whittaker writes with humour and considerable evocative power . For anyone who will admit to having a childhood brush with this now derided hobby, Platform Souls brings it all rushing back.' Independent  'Destined to become the Fever Pitch of the sidings and embankments' Publishing News","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49534293115153,"sku":"GOR006827534","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51533857194257,"sku":"GOR007317410","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1848319894.jpg?v=1751027140"},{"product_id":"platform-souls-book-nicholas-whittaker-9780575400115","title":"Platform Souls","description":"The sight of Britannia 70004 roaring through Burton-on-Trent one summer afternoon in the mid-sixties would have provided a suitable baptism for any youngster on his first trainspotting jaunt. For Nicholas Whittaker it was the beginning of a thirty-year love affair with the railways. Platform Souls is his personal odyssey through the changing world of this most English of pursuits. 'An elegy: for the steam trains already vanishing when Whittaker's hobby began in 1964; for the short-lived diesel age which followed; for an era of near innocence ...This theme is neatly handled, as is the appeal to the sheer romance of railways, the poetry of trains' TLS","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49538929525009,"sku":"GOR001276675","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49640473952529,"sku":"GOR001765847","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0575400110.jpg?v=1751231087"},{"product_id":"blue-period-book-nicholas-whittaker-9780575063884","title":"Blue Period","description":"A revealing account of the author's years in the offices of two soft-porn magazines. It describes encounters with crank callers, models, postboys, readers' wives, saucy crossword compilers and sex-publishing barons. It aims to demystify the glamour and sleaze surrounding the soft-porn industry.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49546483761425,"sku":"GOR005866038","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49645321093393,"sku":"GOR004459069","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50541975240977,"sku":"GOR002037094","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0575063882.jpg?v=1750911415"},{"product_id":"sweet-talk-book-nicholas-whittaker-9780575065550","title":"Sweet Talk","description":"Whatever happened to Cadbury's Aztec, the Spria bar and Bazooka Joes? What are pink candy shrimps actually made of? Who thought up lines like: \"What kind of gumster are you?\" and \"It's the honeycomb middle that weighs so little\"? Why are there fewer sweets in your newagent's today than 20 years ago? Who buys West Indian Limes? These questions and many more are answered in this book - a celebration, chronology, pop-cultural history and critical account of the changing world of 20th-century confectionary. Unashamedly nostalgic in parts, the book contains stories of forgotten brands, traces patterns of consumption and explores the world of sweet manufacturing and establishes the sweet and chocolate bar in folk history.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49563286962449,"sku":"GOR002048135","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50793890808081,"sku":"GOR002001940","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53153234059537,"sku":"GOR011188604","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53438441324817,"sku":"GOR006894371","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0575065559.jpg?v=1750911419"},{"product_id":"platform-souls-book-nicholas-whittaker-9781785781056","title":"Platform Souls","description":"Nicholas Whittaker's much-loved classic recollects the long sunny days of his childhood when, notepad in hand, jam sandwiches in the duffel bag, he happily spent his time jotting down train numbers during the Indian summer of steam and the heyday of diesel.  Whittaker returns to his roots in this updated edition, casting a sceptical eye over recent developments, catching up with old acquaintances and considering the toll that half a century of ridicule and a couple of decades of privatisation have wrought upon his beloved pastime.  As Andrew Martin notes in his Foreword, this is 'one of the best books ever written about rail enthusiasm'. Equally it is a poetically written memoir of growing up in a more innocent age, a hymn to British eccentricity and to the virtues of observing the world around you: 'Spotters - of trains, planes, buses or birds - are a last redoubt for something rapidly vanishing from our lives: looking outward, seeing, observing. People notice things less and less these days, while watching things more and more.'  Praise for the first edition:  'An elegy: for the steam trains already vanishing when Whittaker's hobby began in 1964; for the short-lived diesel age which followed; for an era of near innocence.' Times Literary Supplement   'Whittaker writes with humour and considerable evocative power . For anyone who will admit to having a childhood brush with this now derided hobby, Platform Souls brings it all rushing back.' 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The book also traces patterns of consumption and explores the murky world of the chemistry of sweet manufacturing.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49576696185105,"sku":"GOR001148894","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53617754865937,"sku":"GOR001405148","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0753808560.jpg?v=1751439392"},{"product_id":"toys-were-us-book-nicholas-whittaker-9780575068087","title":"Toys Were Us","description":"Nicholas Whittaker's Toys Were Us is an analysis of the world of toys. Unashamedly nostalgic in parts, Whittaker rolls back the years and lovingly examines the detail of many lost, forgotten, or just plain old toys. Provisionally broken down into subjects and themes -- from 'having wheels' (pedal cars, roller skates) to 'war' (toy soldiers, airfix kits), etc  -- the book is a chronology but also tackles many contemporary issues such as media-fuelled crazes, controversial violations of safety regulations, how Britain has lost its hold on the toy market and the ever-increasing commercialisation of toys.  This is a hitherto unwritten cultural history, full of  Whittaker's characteristic wit, irreverence and eye for hidden, obscure detail.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49583118188817,"sku":"GOR002096526","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52625807671569,"sku":"GOR014567629","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0575068086.jpg?v=1751434861"},{"product_id":"blue-period-book-nicholas-whittaker-9780575401709","title":"Blue Period","description":"The story of the author's years at \"Fiesta\" and \"Razzle\" magazine in the 1980s. Tales include that of the letters editor, who had to knock into shape the correspondence of Mick the Masturbator from Tunbridge Wells, and life on the road with the \"Fiesta Flasher\".","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50471380943121,"sku":"GOR003027543","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50923730764049,"sku":"GOR004548432","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0575401702.jpg?v=1751420035"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-nicholas-whittaker.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}