We have updated our Privacy Policy Please take a moment to review it. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the terms of our updated Privacy Policy.
Following his acclaimed book about football in the north-east,THE FAR CORNER, Harry Pearson vowed that his next project would not involve hanging around outdoors on days so cold that itinerant dogs had to be detached from lamp-posts by firemen. It would be about the summer: specifically, about a summer of shows and fairs in the north of England.
Encompassing such diverse talents as fell-running, tupperware-boxing and rabbit fancying (literally), and containing many more jokes about goats than is legal in the Isle of Man, Racing Pigs and Giant Marrows is without doubt the only book in existence to explain the design faults of earwigs and expose English farmers’ fondness for transvestism. Warm, wise and very funny, it confirms increasing suspicions that Harry Pearson is really quite good.
Encompassing such diverse talents as fell-running, tupperware-boxing and rabbit fancying (literally), and containing many more jokes about goats than is legal in the Isle of Man, Racing Pigs and Giant Marrows is without doubt the only book in existence to explain the design faults of earwigs and expose English farmers’ fondness for transvestism. Warm, wise and very funny, it confirms increasing suspicions that Harry Pearson is really quite good.
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
Reviews
Just as much of a hoot [as THE FAR CORNER]. The title explains his remit, but can't do justice to his one-liners and digressions
One of the most impressive aspects of this highly genial book is a knowledge of rural history that enables [Pearson] to extemporise on subjects as diverse as the Bluefaced Leicester (it's a sheep)
It would have been easy for Pearson to have got hold of these people by their prize-winning parts and pulled mercilessly. But being a Northerner himself, he understands and revers them and takes the trouble to set these shows and their bizarre sideshows in a revealing historical context. He has fun doing it and it shows... In his sharp observation of British habit, Pearson has been compared with Bryson; in his capturing of the overheard, he has been linked with Bennett. In fact, Pearson is a new and original voice and all the more welcome for it
Pearson is funnier than Bill Bryson . . . a prize onion of a tome that'll leave you streaming at the eyes with merriment