A Pub Crawl Through History: The Ultimate Boozers' Who's Who [Illustrated] [Paperback]

This book, a new 360-page paperback by Mike Pentelow, is well-illustrated with photos by Peter Arkell and others which include many pub signs. Don't be misled by the title - this is not one of those books about the drunken expoits of the authors. The book tells the stories, in Mike's usual entertaining style, of 179 commoners who have had pubs named atfter them. The introduction says 'History, it is now widely recognized, is just as much about these representatives of the common people - and not just Kings and queens as taught to generations of school children in years gone by.' The characters are from the 12th century up to the present day and include social reformers, rebels and freedom fighters; highwaymen and other criminals; sportsmen; figures from the worlds of science, medicine, music, literature and the arts; military and other heroes; and notable eccentrics. This book can be appreciated by reading it through from begining to end - as I did, with great pleasure - or just by dipping into it, or by using it as a work of reference. --David Roe - Editor, Journal of the Inn Sign Society

Mike Pentelow, who wrote the text has a ribald sense of humour. I was in hysterics for several days after reading the entry for the children's writer Richmal Crompton - she has a pub named after her in Bromley in Kent. There's a quote from one of her Just William books written in a less politically correct time that I can't quote here but it's worth the price of the book. --Roger Protz - Beer Pages

Worthy successors to Johnson and Boswell, NUJ stalwarts Mike Pentelow and Peter Arkell have travelled across Britain and Ireland from inn to tavern, gathering words and images to reflect the ways in which uncommon people are commemorated on licensed premises. 'A Pub Crawl Through History' it celebrates the ability of real people to make their mark on history through politics, the arts or simple skulduggery. The book is as Pentelow points out, "lavishly illustrated, and an ideal gift for a loved one." Particularly if that loved one is interested in pubs and obscure information. For instance, where else would you learn, at great length, that Jonathan Swift s first significant pamphlet concerned The benefits of Farting Explained. --The Journalist May/June 2010

Mike Pentelow has been a newspaper reporter and member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) for over 40 years. He is the co-author of Characters of Fitzrovia published by Chatto & Windus and Felix Dennis in 2001, and author ofthe biography Norfolk Red: The Life of Wolf Page, Countryside Communist, published by Lawrence & Wishart Limited in 2009. Peter Arkell has been a photographer since 1970 specialising in social issues and the environment, and he has co-written Unfinished Business: The Miner's Strike for Jobs 1984-5, published by Lupus Books in 2009. He is also a member of the NUJ.