Polly Toynbee: what my privileged start in life taught me about the British class system

It wasn’t just luck that steered the Guardian columnist to Oxford and into a media career ... She reflects on the subtle mechanics of class (and an early encounter with a naked future PM)Children know. They breathe it in early, for there’s no unknowing the difference between nannies, cleaners, below-stairs people and the family upstairs. Children are the go-betweens, one foot in each world, and yet they know very well from the earliest age where they belong, where their destiny lies or, to put it crudely, who pays whom. Tiny hands are steeped young in the essence of class and caste. In nursery school, in reception they see the Harry Potter sorting hat at work. They know. And all through school those fine gradations grow clearer, more precise, more consciously knowing, more shaming, more frightening. Good liberal parents teach their children to check their privilege – useful modern phrase – but it swells up like a bubo on the nose. There’s no hiding it.I can summon up the childhood shame at class embarrassments. Aged seven like me, Maureen, with her hair pinned sideways in a pink slide, lived in a pebble-dashed council house by the water tower. They were at the other end of Lindsey, more hamlet than village, half a mile down the road from my father’s pink thatched cottage set in the flat prairie lands of Suffolk, where I spent half my time, the other half in London, shuttling between divorced parents. I envied Maureen for what looked to me like a cheerful large family... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-05-20 12:00:56 UTC ]
News tagged with: #harry potter

Other news stories related to: "Polly Toynbee: what my privileged start in life taught me about the British class system"


Where are the hotshot British male novelists? BAME authors may know

Ashley Hickson-Lovence, Abir Mukherjee, Courttia Newland, Guy Gunaratne, Paul Mendez and Okechukwu Nzelu on why British writers of colour are left out of the conversationAfter this week’s Booker prize longlist was announced, the Times asked “Where are the new male hotshot novelists?” I was... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-07-31 14:10:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #novelists #debut novel #unpublished writer #books world #brown writer #racial diversity


In ‘Memorial Drive,’ Natasha Trethewey reclaims her mother’s life from the man who took it

Trethewey’s memoir is a tribute to a life snuffed out by a brutal man, a fractured judicial system and a patriarchy as old as Methuselah. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-07-31 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #memoir #memorial drive


Century to publish Mind Geek's 'practical guide to a fulfilled life'

Century will publish Five Minute Therapy by Sarah Crosby, a.k.a. Instagrammer @TheMindGeek, in December 2020. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-31 06:12:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #practical guide


Matthew McConaughey pens 'playbook' on life lessons for Headline

Headline has scooped the first book by Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, billed as guide to success and satisfaction “through life’s lessons learned the hard way”. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-30 04:07:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #lessons learned #life lessons


In R.L. Maizes’s ‘Other People’s Pets,’ an aspiring veterinarian turns to a life of crime

La La has it all together. But when her career-thief father needs her help, she might just leave her stable life behind. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-07-29 08:37:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


MJ brings Pavesi's debut to life with Zoom murder mystery

Michael Joseph is building anticipation for Alex Pavesi's debut Eight Detectives with a series of innovative Zoom-hosted murder mysteries for retailers, literary festivals, journalists and bloggers.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-28 00:05:23 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #literary festivals #michael joseph


This mundane task taught me the most powerful productivity hack

Podcast host and best-selling author Pat Flynn explains three reasons why a common productivity practice actually doesn’t work. Years ago, when my wife, April, and I were getting married, we decided to DIY our wedding invitations to cut down on cost. What I didn’t know at the time was that this... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2020-07-23 05:00:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #best-selling author #podcast host


Record Year for British Publishing in 2019

U.K. publisher sales rose to £6.3 billion in 2019, 4% higher than in 2018 and 20% higher than in 2015, making 2019 the biggest year ever for U.K. publishing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-07-22 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #british publishing #biggest year #4% higher #record year


Maggie O’Farrell’s ‘Hamnet’ reimagines the life and death of Shakespeare’s only son

Unintimidated by the Bard’s canon, O’Farrell creates Shakespeare before the radiance of veneration obscured everyone around him. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-07-21 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Led By U.S., Bloomsbury Has Surprising Start to Fiscal 2021

Bloomsbury said sales in the first four months of fiscal 2021, which began March 1, rose 18% over the same period a year ago. Revenue in the U.S. increased 38%, and sales of both digital and print books were up overall. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-07-21 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #bloomsbury #print books


Festival for Working Class Writers to launch in 2021

The Festival for Working Class Writers is being launched in Bristol next year, hoping to shine a spotlight on authors who organiser Natasha Carthew says are underrepresented at other events. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-20 17:38:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


TLC launches scholarship helping black British writers in 2020

The Literary Consultancy is partnering with Ellah P Wakatama, editor-at-large at Canongate, to launch the TLC Scholarship. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-19 14:43:29 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #literary consultancy


Century scores Southgate's 'inspirational life lessons'

PRH imprint Century is publishing an "inspirational book of life lessons" for young people and parents by England football manager Gareth Southgate. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-16 20:09:24 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #life lessons #inspirational book


Mary Morris is best known for her travels, but she has plenty of lessons for life in isolation

Morris’s book “All the Way to the Tigers” intertwines the story of her travels to India with the tale of being stuck at home with a broken ankle. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-07-15 13:39:04 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Yellow Kite pre-empts journo's life hacks learned from the experts

Yellow Kite has pre-empted journalist Erin Zammett Ruddy's The Little Book of Life Skills, billed as "an expert guide to getting your life in order".  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-13 11:44:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #yellow kite


M&A Update: MJH Life Sciences Buys Another B2B Magazine

MJH Life Sciences, the New Jersey-based medical publisher that expanded dramatically last year in a $100 million acquisition of the former UBM Life Sciences portfolio from Informa plc, announced another purchase on Thursday: Pharmaceutical Commerce, a trade magazine and digital outlet serving... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2020-07-09 18:18:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #home town #existing properties #advertising partners #majority stake #-based publisher #ma wire


Black journalists face challenges that stem from systemic racism

The fallout from recent protests over the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor have reignited long-standing concerns on the part of many Black journalists about their roles in the newsrooms they work in, and the value they are given (or not given) by the media companies... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2020-07-09 11:50:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #protest #journalism #tucker carlson #news conference #national lockdown #print magazine #stanford university


Illustrating Nick Carraway’s Infatuation with New York City High Life

The following is excerpted from The Great Gatsby: The Graphic Novel. * __________________________________ From The Great Gatsby: The Graphic Novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Copyright © 1925 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. Copyright renewed 1953 by Frances Scott Fitzgerald Lanahan. Adapted Text and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-07-09 08:47:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #graphic novel #simon schuster #scott fitzgerald #great gatsby


Memorial Celebrates Life of S&S's Carolyn Reidy

A memorial for Carolyn Reidy, who died on May 12, celebrated the life of the publisher. Speakers included former colleagues, as well as authors, including Doris Kearns Goodwin and Hillary Clinton. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-07-08 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #hillary clinton #carolyn reidy


HarperCollins lands life story of South Africa rugby captain Siya Kolisi

HarperCollins has landed the life story of Siya Kolisi, Springboks captain and star of South Africa’s 2019 World Cup-winning rugby team. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-07-07 05:01:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #harpercollins #south africa #life story