Croydon Boy

by Peter Saunders

The best-selling singles artist of 1967 was not the Beatles, the Stones or the Who. It was Engelbert Humperdink. And in the year that Sergeant Pepper was released, the best-selling album was the soundtrack from The Sound of Music. The reality of the sixties often fails to live up to the hype. In this unique book, Peter Saunders - a professional sociologist - blends research findings with personal anecdotes to paint a picture of what life was really like for most kids growing up in Britain in the years following the Second World War. Drawing on his own experiences as a lad living in Croydon, as well as on social research from that period, he explores the changes in family life, education, sex, law and order and personal freedom that were taking place in those tumultuous years.

314 pages, Hardcover

Published August 8, 2017

Reviews

[Peter Emery · Rating 5 out of 5]

A thoroughly absorbing tale of growing up in Croydon in the 1960s, interweaving personal experiences and social history to compare the reality with the myths of the Swinging Sixties. Although I am a Generation X-er and was far less rebellious than the author, I can relate to common themes such as a similar political journey, the complexity of the father/son relationship and the awkwardness and exaggeration of youth, all magnificently explored here. Along with the social commentary, there are some 'LOL' moments, as the kids would say, such as the reason given for his father's retirement from teaching and the adventures with Puck, the family dog, seemingly a forerunner to Fenton of YouTube fame. I now also know where the author got his inspiration for the name of the protagonist's band in 'The Sweetest Girl'!