What do you think?
Rate this book
Behind the Scenes at the Museum of Baked Beans An Odd-ysey
Witty and eccentric Behind the Scenes at the Museum of Baked Beans traces Hunter Davies' search for the strangest collections in the UK.
There are lots of books about museums -- the art gallery, the town or national museum we all know and love -- but the museum devoted to one specific subject tends to get overlooked, or gets listed in the local guidebook as an oddity. Hunter Davies feels it's time to focus a book entirely on the unusual, the eccentric and the downright potty.
Behind the Scenes at the Museum of Baked Beans is a celebration of the quirky collections -- and the passionate collectors behind them -- that make up some of the strangest and most fascinating museums in the country. From the Keswick Pencil Museum and the Museum of Baked Beans in Port Talbot to the Lawnmower Museum in Southport and the Sheep Centre in Cockermouth, Hunter Davies' tour of the weird and wonderful museums that pepper the country is both an hilarous local history, a celebration of the truly weird and an unrivalled insight into that strangest of human characteristics -- the desire to collect things.
There are lots of books about museums -- the art gallery, the town or national museum we all know and love -- but the museum devoted to one specific subject tends to get overlooked, or gets listed in the local guidebook as an oddity. Hunter Davies feels it's time to focus a book entirely on the unusual, the eccentric and the downright potty.
Behind the Scenes at the Museum of Baked Beans is a celebration of the quirky collections -- and the passionate collectors behind them -- that make up some of the strangest and most fascinating museums in the country. From the Keswick Pencil Museum and the Museum of Baked Beans in Port Talbot to the Lawnmower Museum in Southport and the Sheep Centre in Cockermouth, Hunter Davies' tour of the weird and wonderful museums that pepper the country is both an hilarous local history, a celebration of the truly weird and an unrivalled insight into that strangest of human characteristics -- the desire to collect things.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
3 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Hunter Davies
132 books70 followersEdward Hunter Davies OBE is an author, journalist and broadcaster, and a former editor for the Sunday Times of London. He is the author of numerous books, including The Glory Game and the only authorised biography of the Beatles. He was born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, to Scottish parents. For four years his family lived in Dumfries until Davies was aged 11.
His family moved to Carlisle in northern England when Davies was 11 and he attended the Creighton School in the city. Davies lived in Carlisle until he moved to study at university. During this time his father, who was a former Royal Air Force pay clerk, developed multiple sclerosis and had to retire on medical grounds from a civil service career.
Davies joined the sixth form at Carlisle Grammar School and was awarded a place at University College, Durham to read for an honours degree in History, but after his first year he switched to a general arts course. He gained his first writing experience as a student, contributing to the university newspaper, Palatinate, where one of his fellow student journalists was the future fashion writer Colin McDowell. After completing his degree course he stayed on at Durham for another year to gain a teaching diploma and avoid National Service.
He lives in London.
His family moved to Carlisle in northern England when Davies was 11 and he attended the Creighton School in the city. Davies lived in Carlisle until he moved to study at university. During this time his father, who was a former Royal Air Force pay clerk, developed multiple sclerosis and had to retire on medical grounds from a civil service career.
Davies joined the sixth form at Carlisle Grammar School and was awarded a place at University College, Durham to read for an honours degree in History, but after his first year he switched to a general arts course. He gained his first writing experience as a student, contributing to the university newspaper, Palatinate, where one of his fellow student journalists was the future fashion writer Colin McDowell. After completing his degree course he stayed on at Durham for another year to gain a teaching diploma and avoid National Service.
He lives in London.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 31, 2016
Wonderful!
May 25, 2018
Well this must certainly hold the record for "The Book That Has Taken Me the Longest To Read"....23/07/16 & finished 24/05/18 - phew!!
I love the concept of this book, investigating Britain's maddest museums & have read books on a similar theme before. There's certainly a wide range of interesting...& eccentric... themes, Cockermouth's "The Sheep Show", The Fan Museum of Greenwich & the Baked Bean Museum of the title - yes, it does exist & is alive & kicking in Port Talbot. However, perhaps they just weren't weird & wonderful enough for me as I found the book a struggle (which you may have guessed at my having taken nearly 2 years to finish it!) It lacked the humour & tongue-in-cheekedness that I loved about in "Bollocks to Alton Towers" (see below). While one of my main gripes about "Crap Days Out" (again see below) was the brevity of the articles, ironically in this case they were just too long! Or maybe it was just the narration of facts was so monotonous at times that they just seemed to go on...&on....& on..*yawn*
The only chapter I can recall in any detail is the final one. Not, as you may assume because it was the last one I read so is freshest in my mind, but because I had a fantastic day at "The Museum Advertising & Packaging "many years ago when it was still in Gloucester & I have quite a few of the Opie's books. I'm not sure if this book would encourage any one to go but I certainly would.
There were bits I found amusing but too few & far between to keep things entertaining...or I'd have probably kept reading & finished it much (much) quicker! That isn't a reflection on the museums or the dedicated people who run them, it wasn't them I found boring it was Davies' delivery of their story. I reallywanted to be more interested I just wasn't....
Overall what should have been an interesting & quirky batch of mad museums fell short of the mark with a writing style that was too dry & unappealing for my taste.
Links to my reviews at BookCrossing:
"Bollocks to Alton Towers"
"Crap Days Out"
I love the concept of this book, investigating Britain's maddest museums & have read books on a similar theme before. There's certainly a wide range of interesting...& eccentric... themes, Cockermouth's "The Sheep Show", The Fan Museum of Greenwich & the Baked Bean Museum of the title - yes, it does exist & is alive & kicking in Port Talbot. However, perhaps they just weren't weird & wonderful enough for me as I found the book a struggle (which you may have guessed at my having taken nearly 2 years to finish it!) It lacked the humour & tongue-in-cheekedness that I loved about in "Bollocks to Alton Towers" (see below). While one of my main gripes about "Crap Days Out" (again see below) was the brevity of the articles, ironically in this case they were just too long! Or maybe it was just the narration of facts was so monotonous at times that they just seemed to go on...&on....& on..*yawn*
The only chapter I can recall in any detail is the final one. Not, as you may assume because it was the last one I read so is freshest in my mind, but because I had a fantastic day at "The Museum Advertising & Packaging "many years ago when it was still in Gloucester & I have quite a few of the Opie's books. I'm not sure if this book would encourage any one to go but I certainly would.
There were bits I found amusing but too few & far between to keep things entertaining...or I'd have probably kept reading & finished it much (much) quicker! That isn't a reflection on the museums or the dedicated people who run them, it wasn't them I found boring it was Davies' delivery of their story. I reallywanted to be more interested I just wasn't....
Overall what should have been an interesting & quirky batch of mad museums fell short of the mark with a writing style that was too dry & unappealing for my taste.
Links to my reviews at BookCrossing:
"Bollocks to Alton Towers"
"Crap Days Out"
June 28, 2019
Quirky and offbeat, with a little eccentricity, obsession and oddity thrown in for good measure, this is a delightful collection of museum reviews from a tour around the UK.
Based on the author's premise that his own collections might tempt him to open a museum of his own, he sets out to visit a few private collections dedicated to one focused item (and amazingly there appear to be a large number of such museums around the UK).
Entertaining and inspirational, filled with facts, irrelevant-yet-essential information, this is a highly enjoyable read and one which lives up to the obscure promise of the title.
Based on the author's premise that his own collections might tempt him to open a museum of his own, he sets out to visit a few private collections dedicated to one focused item (and amazingly there appear to be a large number of such museums around the UK).
Entertaining and inspirational, filled with facts, irrelevant-yet-essential information, this is a highly enjoyable read and one which lives up to the obscure promise of the title.
May 6, 2018
Listened to as audiobook on my commute to and from work. Thoroughly enjoyable.
May 22, 2021
Delightful! Quirky and informative. Easy to read. I really enjoyed Hunter's writing style.
September 8, 2012
I thought that this was a great idea for a book, but the execution wasn't as succesful as it could have been. It started off with a tour of a fan museum which wasn't really particularly quirky making it an odd choice for the first chapter in the book. Some of the other chapters are great though; it's hard to imagine that anyone wouldn't enjoy spending time in the company of the likes of Captain Beany or light fingered radio enthusiasts.
On the whole it's a worthwhile read but could have done with more editing to take out the likes of the chapter on the Sheep Show, which arguably isn't really a museum at all, and has actually closed since publication in any case. Less is sometimes more.
Full contact details are provided for each museum which was a nice practical touch.
On the whole it's a worthwhile read but could have done with more editing to take out the likes of the chapter on the Sheep Show, which arguably isn't really a museum at all, and has actually closed since publication in any case. Less is sometimes more.
Full contact details are provided for each museum which was a nice practical touch.
July 9, 2015
An impulse purchase that didn't really pay off I'm afraid. I ended up skipping a few entries entirely as even the subjects in which I was interested seemed drawn out. Narrator did his best to maintain enthusiasm, but the author's journalistic emphasis on interviewing the museum founders made things seem dull. Print version might be of limited interest (easier skimming/skipping).
Really 2.5 stars for my experience, buy others might enjoy the variety of subjects more than I did.
Really 2.5 stars for my experience, buy others might enjoy the variety of subjects more than I did.
November 7, 2012
This is a great book - eighteen chapters each devoted to one museum, covering everything from Fans to Baked Beans to Bagpipes. Hunter Davies writes not only about the museums themselves but includes as much time to the people who created them. Hunter Davies has a lovely writing style - always engaging and often amusingly digressing into anecdotes only tangentially related to the museums. Highly recommended!
September 8, 2012
I love museums. From a practical point of view, it was a good blimmin' job I had read The Lawnmower Museum chapter (in Southport if you're interested) before I went as the actual museum has limited information.
December 26, 2011
Whimsical ramble around some more or less oddball museums with more or less oddball creators. I enjoyed the look into "the mind of a collector" as well as the descriptions of said museums and creators.
November 10, 2013
Davies travels the UK in search of the craziest museums dedicated to just one subject such as baked beans, bagpipes or lawnmowers. Eccentric is probably the kindest thing to be said about some of the creators and curators.
January 26, 2016
Hunter Davies is always an easy, engaging read. In this he visits some well known and some rather less well known specialist museums. Almost as interesting as the museums are the people who set these things up - Captain Beany of the baked bean museum.....
August 10, 2013
I am really loving this book, which describes a bunch of small and quirky museums all over the UK. Lots of fun.
April 8, 2012
This could have been a pointless ramble but was both entertaining and informative.
November 30, 2014
a book about museums
April 23, 2016
Given as a gift, but has made me want to visit some the museums mentioned
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews