Mick O'Shea – författare

The ‘Anarchy in the UK Tour’ should have just been a collection of twenty gigs like any other, spanning venues across the UK…It was December 1976, and a coach drove off down a London street like any other. On board were the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Heartbreakers, while The Damned, who were also on the bill, followed behind.However, two days earlier on the Today Show, tour, the Sex Pistols’ had lit a fire in the popular consciousness. What should have been an inconsequential three-minute interview descended into farce when the show’s host goaded Sex Pistols’ guitarist Steve Jones into saying ‘something outrageous’. Local councils began to ban the tour and agreed “Most of these groups would be vastly improved by sudden death”.Author Mick O Shea dissects the whirlwind that followed these punk-rock heavyweights and the sheer force of their rebellion against popular culture. He has interviewed band members, managers, roadies and audiences to tell the true story of how anarchy once gripped the nation.

Chalamet was the youngest Best Actor Oscar nominee in 80 years for his role in Call Me By Your Name.

Knights of Abador is the first instalment of the Tales of theKnights Xemplar trilogy. It tells the story of Lucian, a 17-year-old farm boy who accidentally witnesses the kidnappingof Princess Rhiana of Abador by the blood-lusting Galyaks. Buthe arrives at the walled-city to tell of what he has witnessed to findHigh King Ocwan having been deceived into thinking it was theneighbouring Huskenbachs that have taken his daughterhas alreadyset sail for Varnia with the army.In the High Kings stead Abador is under the rule of his new chief consul,Nikobar. But Nikobar is a Symian sorcerer who is in league with theGalyaks, and has arranged for Princess Rhiana to be abducted in order tobring about a war between Kalimars two strongest kingdoms. For onceAbador and Varnia have all but destroyed each other, the Galyak WarlordSalakhan will be free to launch an invasion.Nikobar has no intention of allowing a simple farm boy to ruin his carefullylaidplans and sends assassins to murder Lucian, but they are foiled in theattempt by Sir Amicob of the legendary Knights Xemplar.In a race against time, Lucian and Sir Amicob, together with his fellowKnight Xemplar, Sir Kulos, set out from Abador for only by uniting theKnights Xemplar will they have any chance of rescuing Princess Rhianaand saving Abador.

In November 1977, Warner Bros. secured the rights to release the album Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols in America. The following January, the Sex Pistols--already the "scourge" of Britain--were discovered by unsuspecting American audiences in an infamous U.S. tour, accompanied by sensational media coverage and moral panic.Malcolm McLaren, the band's manager, eschewed the established rock 'n' roll markets of New York and Los Angeles in favor of off-the-radar venues in Memphis, San Antonio and Baton Rouge, sowing the seeds for countercultural clashes in the conservative South. Two weeks later the band split up but punk had invaded mainstream American culture.Drawing on input from fans, the author chronicles the Pistols' first and only U.S. tour and separates fact from fallacy in the mythology surrounding those 12 days of mayhem.

In December 1976, a coach drove off down a London street. On board were the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Heartbreakers and their respective management, while The Damned, who were also on the bill, were travelling separately. The 'Anarchy in the UK Tour' should have been just another rock 'n' roll tour, and surely would have been, had it not been for the Sex Pistols' anarchic antics on the Today show two days earlier. What should have been an inconsequential three-minute interview to hopefully plug the new single, and the accompanying promotional tour, descended into farce when the show's host Bill Grundy goaded the Sex Pistols' guitarist Steve Jones into saying something outrageous? Author Mick O Shea has interviewed members of the band's involved, managers, roadies and audience members to tell the story of why this was such an important tour. Explains why many local councils banned the tour resulting in only seven out of a scheduled twenty gigs taking place. One London councilor stated: "Most of these groups would be vastly improved by sudden death" The book is also an examination of punk rock's impact on the nation in the Seventies.Illustrated throughout with rare photographs and memorabilia.