Baggage

by Janet. Street-Porter

Brilliant, brave, controversial, combative, intellectual - just how do you become Janet Street-Porter? Born in working-class Fulham to parents who for years she refused to believe were really hers, Janet loathed her mother, tried to murder her sister, and had a friend who was given a life sentence for a contract killing. In a household subsumed with repressive 'Welshness' (even the budgerigar spoke Welsh), she found solace in unsuitable friendships and outrageous behaviour. In this mesmerising account of growing up in post-war London there is poignancy, mystery - and a trademark black humour. "Baggage" will touch readers at many levels; it is as edgy and fearless as Janet Street-Porter herself.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Autobiography

277 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Indieflower · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a while ago and never got round to reviewing it. I've always found Janet Street-Porter interesting, she's forthright, pulls no punches and takes no prisoners, all well and good but I really wouldn't want to be her friend. This book is all about her "difficult" childhood, however I'm inclined to believe the only thing difficult about Janet's childhood was Janet herself. She came across as whiny, selfish, disturbingly jealous and without conscience. She once pushed her sister fully down the stairs, simply for being prettier and more popular 😶, no regrets, no remorse. She hated her mother, with whom I totally sympathised, I'm pretty sure she must've had more than enough of Janet's brand of bullsh*t. Lots of blame placed on others, but no responsibility taken for her own hurtful actions. An eye opening read but kinda disturbing too.

[Leonie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this insight into Janet's formative years. I really enjoy her ascerbic take on life and no-bullshit opinions. Having lived on the North End Road for many years before moving onto a boat and mooring in Perivale for large swathes of the summer, I really felt I got a vague understanding of the areas she was talking about.

Her strength of character and gritty determination to be anything other than bland is remarkable. I really admire her (have I mentioned that)? Anyway, it was a a good quick read and glimpse behind the curtain of what went into the making of the large character that is Janet Street-Porter.

[Umaima Al-Adawi]

I did not like the book.

[Nikki Copleston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I raced through this book, fascinated by the period detail and the depiction of the places in South London and North Wales where she spent her childhood. What a raw deal she gives her parents and her boyfriends! Enjoyable as I found this memoir, I couldn't help feeling sorry for those around her, with whom she has zero empathy.
Very readable, and all too short!

[Jody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took me a while to get through but a good read

[Pamela Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very much enjoyed it and want to read the next one.

[Paula Hartharn-Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very Janet Street Porter but there is obviously another book in the pipeline as this autobiography finishes in 1967! I wanted to know the rest.

[Leila · Rating 2 out of 5]

I began to quite like Janet Street Porter after seeing her on 'Loose Women' and also in an extremely interesting and well balanced documentary where she walked all over England together with a famous cook whose name escapes me at this moment. I enjoyed her explorations of all sorts of places and ways of life while her companion did a fair bit of cooking. She's very different indeed as a personality on TV and is often most outspoken in her opinions. She soon intrigued me as a personality and I admired her strong approach to life. She apologises to nobody for who and what she is and says her piece. You can take her or leave her. She backs away from nothing and no one. I don't think she is too bothered either way. On the strength of my interest in her as a personality I decided to buy this book to learn more about her. Sadly, I found the book, which was described on Amazon in glowing terms such as... 'A gripping narrative, concisely told' et al... not to my taste and less than gripping. The book went on and on, page after tedious page explaining what a terribly hard childhood she had. Eventually I became bored with it. Her cruel streak left me feeling just a tad uncomfortable. For example, she tells us quite openly that she deliberately pushed her younger sister from the top of the stairs to the bottom with no hint of remorse whatever. Why? Because she apparently hated her; as she was better looking and more popular. In fact she even tried this a second time though she failed which seemed to infuriate her. She was old enough at the time to know exactly what she was doing. She went on and on, mithering about the hard life she had throughout her formative years. She seemed to have 'hated' her mother and sister in particular and obviously felt so badly done to....Really? Not for me thank you. I stuck it out to the finish and still admire the lady as a very intelligent and talented outspoken adult but I will not be reading any more of her books.

[╟ ♫ Tima ♪ ╣ ♥ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this book definitely wins an award of "most deceiving summary" & "most misleading false advertising".

The book jacket lures you in with statements like, "tried to murder her sister" and "extraordinarily bizarre childhood". Being the lover of memoirs and human's life stories that I am, these lines had me interested enough to pick up the book.

What a mistake. Her and her sister had, if anything, slightly elevated rivalry that many sibling endure and her childhood was incredibly mundane. Her parents were hard-working middle-class Welsh who were stiff and lacked compassion [perspective of author, not of mine]. She claims many times throughout the book that her mother was "oppressive" and that she "wished they'd have chopped her head off" during her mother's surgery. Really, the book is an account of a selfish teenager with an extreme lack of morals, feelings for others and took no responsibility for any of her mistakes. [She so lightly regards her abortions, infidelity, etc]. I found myself much more interested in looking of the geographies & pronunciation of the Welsh cities where her family culminated than reading about her childhood.

The pros were: her lovely and refreshing account of what it was like to see a washing machine at age 4 [truly the highlight of the book and a testament to the quality her writing could be..]. She saw many amazing bands [Rolling Stones, Beatles, etc] and was crafty enough to make and produce her own clothing; something I admire.

Lastly, I found her writing style to be bland. She wasn't able to paint pictures with her words or even keep track of her story in a chronological sense. All around, a largely disappointing read. I should add that I'd never heard of Janet Street-Porter before picking up this book and it's my understanding she has quite the following, although I'm still unsure what her claim to fame is.

[The Bookish Wombat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a big fan of Ms Street-Porter's but a friend passed this book on to me having enjoyed it. It's quite a quick read interspersed with some family photos (though I found it annoying that the captions for said photos were all in a section at the end of the book which meant lots of turning back and forward to find out what I was looking at).

I found the book interesting in how it covered the period in which the author was a child and how family secrets impacted on everyone. Despite that I didn't make me warm to its subject, but may have explained a few things about her personality.

[Ben Cooke · Rating 2 out of 5]

An over glamourised account of a pretty ordinary, mundane childhood. All the blurb about the book claims that JSP had some massive traumatic upbringing and that she was such a rebel. The reality, if thats what this book is, is that she didnt see eye to eye much with her mum that much as she was growing up, big "WOW"!. The big shocking climax in the whole book if her telling her mum to eff off at the end of an argument. I really expected more from this book given the hype about it.

[Colleen Blogg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was brilliant.So easy to read.

[Ann Halton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good read.

Couldn't put it down once I'd started. Could so identify with her experiences of family life in the 50's & 60's & how we were desperate to leave home & do our own thing!

[Carole Tyrrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the memoir of Janet Street-Porter, journalist, TV producer and BAFTA award winner. Some may still see her as the woman with the funny teeth and incomprehensible speech so mercilessly lampooned on’ Not the Nine O’Clock News’ in the 1980’s. I’ve always admired her though I imagine she could be very intimidating in real life.
The book begins with her parents, Cherrie and Stan meeting in Llandudno during the Second World War – it was an instant attraction despite them both being married to other people at the time. Cherrie was flirtatious and had left school at 14. Stan was in the army and later became an electrician. His parents were very different to Cherrie’s who were Welsh and she would later prowl the streets of Fulham looking for Welsh speakers to talk to. Cherrie became pregnant with Janet and they set up home in Fulham which was not the posh middle class London suburb it is now. 18 months later, Pat, was born but they were still not married as Cherrie’s husband had refused to give her a divorce. It would not be until Janet and Pat were much older that he agreed and their parents were finally able to marry. But it was secretive and the girls knew nothing about it and it became another secret to be kept hidden in the family.
But the Bull household was a divided one with English and Welsh speakers at opposite ends of the table. Even the budgie exclusively spoke Welsh. And Stan wished that both Janet and Pat were both boys. Janet describes so well being taken to one of the first launderettes with her mother – a ritual that I remembered well. Money was a constant problem and Janet recalls the family holidays where they were would be slathered in cooking oil as they couldn’t afford suntan lotion.’ She is affronted by their move to Perivale and the subsequent long commute to school in Fulham and to see her friends. And is not amused by being nicknamed Olive Oyl due to her height, her flat chest and her glasses. She decides to be an architect.
In between she describes her school days, her teenage years and being a Mod. She also described a London that no longer exists. The vibrancy of Notting Hill Gate during the ‘50’s and ‘60’s and the Rachman era and a Fulham full of smog and criminality. There are also boyfriends and lovers and a fiancé Rex who she treated as if she was ‘a self centred domatrix.’ Even she describes herself as single minded and ruthless.
Bagage is candid and frank – a determined, ambitious rebel who was in the right place at the right time in Swinging London after a strange childhood.. She saw further education as a way out which it was for her. I still the Channel 4 series she did revisiting some of Pevsner’s site which was wonderful. It’s an honest account of her life up until she meets Tim Street-Porter the founder of Time Out listing magazine and finally leaves home forever.

[Sarah Cooper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting read & you can hear Janet's voice as you read.

[Anita Doran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite enjoyed this book, not what i expected though very honest account & an eye opener for sure.

[Janet Bird · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this book, she's very forthright and no nonsense.

[Kay Townsend · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an OK read.

[Joyce Ellis · Rating 2 out of 5]

She comes across as a thoroughly nasty person. DNF at 40%. Just bored with it.

[Chris Finn · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5*. Was quiet bored reading this.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read, but I found the later chapters were a bit confusing with a lot of names which meant nothing to me. It's always hard to write a review on autobiographies, as the reality is what it is.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it!

[Elspeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy quick read about Janet’s life. Amusing and interesting.

[Lauren · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm not sure why I read this in the first place, I had very little knowledge of Janet and her career but did admire that she seemed an independent woman who wasn't afraid to speak her mind and chose to live her life by her own rules. These things are all true but what I had failed to recognise was that she seems a very unpleasant person.

This book covers Janet's life up until around the age of 20, I believe she has since written other books covering her later years, she hasn't yet become famous in this installment so if you are looking for her story and opinions on those years then this book isn't for you. Maybe Janet develops and matures as she grows older but this book shows her to be self-centred and unpleasant. The contempt she shows for her parents (and pretty much everyone else she ever encounters) seems completely unwarranted, at the beginning of the book the disdain as she writes of her Mother and Father made me think they must have been horrendously horrible but after reading the book the only thing they seem to have done is tried to discipline/reign in Janet's bad behaviour and provided her with a stable, family environment and not the deprivation that she seems to try and imply.

The way she treated her boyfriends was also appalling, repeatedly cheating on them and generally treating them with disgust. I don't like writing bad reviews especially where they involve a real-life person but Janet truly seemed like a really unpleasant person who is proud of the fact she treats people terribly. As I said previously she is still very young in this book, maybe she matured as she grew but I doubt it as the introduction to the book shows the same contempt for her parents.

Not recommended.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cover says 'Oh she is maddening! But maddeningly compulsive too' Lyn Barber. I'd completely echo this; what a nightmare she must have been! (And she's still creating outrage.) I really like JST and was very interested to read this. I always like auto-biographies and this is very, very entertaining.Now I'm keeping my eyes peeled for 'Fallout' the continuation of her story.

[Jonathan Minster · Rating 4 out of 5]

The voice of the yuof makes agood read

[Leon Duveen]

Did not enjoy this at all, it is just as annoying to read as J S-P is to listen to