The Real Gorbals Story
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Product Description
Book Description
A real-life account of growing up in the 1960s Gorbals by one of its own
Product Description
Colin MacFarlane was born in the Gorbals in the 1950s, 20 years after the publication of No Mean City, the classic novel about pre-war life in what was once Glasgow's most deprived district. He lived in the same street as its fictional 'razor king', Johnnie Stark, and subsequently realised that a lot of the old characters represented in the book were still around as late as the 1960s. Men still wore bunnets and played pitch and toss; women still wore headscarves and treated the steamie as their social club. The razor gangs were running amok once again, human waste ran down the tenement stairs, and filth, violence, crime, rats, poverty and drunkenness abounded, just like they did in No Mean City.
MacFarlane witnessed the last days of the old Gorbals as a major regeneration programme, begun in 1961, was implemented, and, as a street boy, he had a unique insight into a once great community in rapid decline. He witnessed drunken fights, gang battles, police corruption and even the occasional stabbing, slashing and murder. But the Gorbals had another side: one where ordinary hard-working people were trying to survive in what was arguably once the most notorious area in the world.
In this engrossing new book, MacFarlane reveals what it was really like to live in the old Gorbals.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THIS IS A VERY GOOD READ, FULL OF PATTER, ACTION,
By JOHNMACKIE "JOHNMACKIE" (BARBADOS) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Real Gorbals Story: True Tales from Glasgow's Meanest Streets (Paperback)
Glasgow's Gorbals had quite a reputation in the 1960s as arguably one of the darkest, most frightening and dangerous places in the world. Colin MacFarlane - like television presenter Lorraine Kelly and writers Jimmy Boyle and Ralph Glasser - is a child of the Gorbals. Born in the 1950s, he witnessed the last days of the old Gorbals as a major regeneration programme began in 1961 and a once great community went into rapid decline. A tough kid who grew up on street corners and in back courts, MacFarlane lived in the same street as Johnnie Stark, the fictional `razor king' of Alexander McArthur's 1935 novel No Mean City, which has become a classic of Scottish pre-war literature. MacFarlane played in the same filth-ridden tenements, witnessing drunken fights and violent gang battles, just like those McArthur wrote about. As late as the 1960s, Gorbals men still wore bunnets and women headscarves, the steamie was treated as a social club, razor gangs terrorised the streets and crime, rats, poverty and drunkenness were all part of everyday life. But in The Real Gorbals Story, MacFarlane also describes another world - one of ordinary hard-working people, desperately trying to survive in the toughest conditions and against the odds. Here MacFarlane talks about what it was really like to live in the old Gorbals and recreates the characters that inhabited that unique, bygone world. Colin MacFarlane is a journalist and has written for a number of national newspapers, including Scotland on Sunday, The Sunday Times, the Scottish Sun and the Daily Record. He lives in Pontypridd, Wales.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's Real Alright,
By Tomvox (Llanelli, Wales) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Real Gorbals Story: True Tales from Glasgow's Meanest Streets (Paperback)
Colin has captured the genuine feel of what may have been a physically run-down area but what the people turned into a tightly-knit community. To anyone growing up in 1950's or early 1960's Glasgow the Gorbals was an area to be avoided. These infamous slums however had a heart - the people of The Gorbals. Colin gives voice to how people had a strong community spirit that survived the 1960's redevelopment of the area and why even today people will be proud to say "Ah'm fae the Gorbals". I understand he is producing a follow-up to come out in late 2008 recounting his own change from a Gorbals Boy to a cosmopolitan man. I look forward to reading it knowing that you cannot take the Gorbals out of the boy (and I'm sure he wouldn't want it any other way).
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a very good read full of true life stories from the gorbals,
By tinycumbie (gorbals) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Real Gorbals Story: True Tales from Glasgow's Meanest Streets (Paperback)
I was born in Thistle Street in 1953 and The Real Gorbals Story has got the feel of the place and the characters spot on. The last reviewer says he can only remember three characters well perhaps unlike like the rest of us he did not venture out enough to experience what was going on the the magical old gorbals. I know I was there and I can remember Macfarlane and his pals...this book is a must for all those interested in the old place. I still live in the Gorbals and all the boys agree that this book has got to be one of the best ever. Buy it and see!
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