Norman Jacobs – författare

Speedway first saw the light of day in Great Britain on 19 February 1928 at High Beech. Since then, speedway has spread throughout the country, but the South-East remains the heart of the sport. This book relates the history of the region's many famous tracks, recounting classic races and famous riders.

One of the true greats of English football, Vivian Woodward led England to victory in both the 1908 and 1912 Olympic Games. An amateur throughout his career, he was famous for his sportsmanship and as an embodiment of the Corinthian spirit.

The post-war era was British speedway's golden age. Ten million spectators passed through the turnstiles of a record number of tracks at the sport's peak. With league gates as high as 80,000, speedway offered a colourful means of escape from the grim austerity of the times. A determinedly clean image, with no betting and rival fans mingling on the terraces, made speedway the family night out of choice. The sport thrived despite punitive taxation and Government threats to close down the speedways as a threat to industrial productivity. A three-division National League stretched from Exeter to Edinburgh and the World Championship Final attracted a capacity audience to Wembley. Test matches against Australia provided yet another international dimension. Even at the height of its popularity, speedway was a sporting edifice built on unstable foundations. These crumbled alarmingly as the 1950s progressed and Britain's economic and social recovery brought competing attractions like television. Although many tracks, including famous venues like Wembley, fell by the wayside, the surviving clubs continued to attract large and enthusiastic crowds and the period saw the maturing careers of some of the sport's legendary stars, including Peter Craven, Ronnie Moore, Ove Fundin and Barry Briggs.

Norman Jacobs worked at the British Museum for thirty-seven years, during the period of its greatest change. He was intimately involved in a number of the key decisions and projects affecting the Museum, such as the separation of the British Library, the building of the Great Court and the controversy over free admission. He was also involved in a number of the scandals that made headlines in the newspapers, such as the 'Hypocrisy at the Top' story that caught the press and the public's imagination in the early 1980s. But this book is much more than just a look at the major issues affecting the Museum. It is also an affectionate and light-hearted peek behind the scenes at some of the great characters of the past forty years, and the amusing incidents that make up the day-to-day life of one of Britain's best-known and best-loved institutions.

Frinton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze have been bound up with one another for many years, together with the associated villages of Great Holland, Kirby-le-Soken and Kirby Cross. A century and a half ago, they were all small agricultural villages, but for Frinton and Walton, the change since that time has been dramatic. Frinton became a select resort for those in pursuit of a quiet vacation, while Walton, in contrast, catered with its pier, cinemas and amusement arcades for a livelier, family holiday. Change has been more gradual in Kirby and Great Holland.

In this lively and yet scholarly book, creative artists, people who direct channels of communications, and social scientists present their numerous positions and deeply felt disagreements. Originally released thirty years ago under the rubric Culture for the Millions, the work discusses whether or not American culture is in a state of rise or decline; whether mass media dilutes the arts or provides more art for more people; whether cultural leaders are in touch with their audiences, and other such issues. This volume brings together outstanding artists, scholars, and media executives who present their wide-ranging and deeply felt positions and disagreements. Mass Media in Modern Society remains a classic, not only for what it represents as a historical document, but also because of the centrality of its discussions about the nature of cultural participation and aesthetics hi modern society. The contributions include: Paul F. Lazarsfeld, "Mass Culture Today," Edward Shils, "Mass Society and Its Culture," Leo Lowenthal, "A Historical Preface to the Popular Culture" Debate," Hannah Arendt, "Society and Culture," Ernest van den Haag, "A Dissent from the Consensual Society," Oscar Handlin, "Comments on Mass and Popular Culture," Leo Rosten, "The Intellectual and the Mass Media," Frank Stanton, "Parallel Paths," James Johnson Sweeney, "The Artist and the Museum hi a Modern Society," Randall Jarrell, "A Sad Heart at the Supermarket," Arthur Asa Berger, "Notes on the Plight of the American Composer," James Baldwin, "Mass Culture and the Creative Artist," Stanley Edgar Hyman, "Ideals, Dangers, and Limitations of Mass Culture," H. Stewart Hughes, "Mass Culture and Social Criticism," Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., "Notes on a National Cultural Policy."

The Blitz had made many families in the East End of London homeless. One solution was to erect prefabs on fields and open spaces to give temporary accommodation to those who had been bombed out. It was in one of these 'modern' boxes that young Norman Jacobs grew up through the 1950s and 1960s. In a lively, detailed and humorous picture of a postwar Hackney childhood, Norman takes us back to an age of rationing, bomb sites, street markets, colourful characters and camaraderie. And in reminiscing about stodgy school food, jumpers for goalposts, Listen with Mother, greyhound racing, pie 'n' mash, holiday camps, and the advent of American-style burger bars, he provides a glimpse into a way of life that has vanished for ever. Set against a backdrop of Rock 'n' Roll, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the assassination of President Kennedy, funny, poignant and sometimes sad, Norman's is a story full of innocence and happiness that will take you back to the best of times - the days we thought would never end.