Tuning in to the past
The Gift Of A Radio: My Childhood And Other Trainwrecks Justin Webb
Justin Webb’s vivid childhood memoir reads like a collection of scenes from cherished sitcoms of his youth.
A life spent under the spell of eccentric, “ineffably snobbish” mother Gloria and “stark staring mad” stepfather
Charles is part Keeping Up Appearances and part Reggie Perrin. Webb writes about it all with wit and fondness but beneath the surface lurks a great deal of heartbreak.
Webb is the longest-serving presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and journalism is in his blood. His grandfather was the first editor of the Radio Times. His biological father was BBC newscaster Peter Woods – although Webb only discovered that from a chance remark by his mother. His childhood was marked by guilty secrets, private anguish and emotional repression.
Webb’s book is a clear-eyed reckoning with his past. He regrets he never attempted a relationship with Charles who needed help with his mental health, possibly suffering a form of schizophrenia. He also questions his own attachment to his mother’s narrow-minded view of the world, something that left him feeling isolated.
You can hear Webb’s voice in the breezy tone and hearty good cheer of his writing. He harbours no misty-eyed nostalgia for the Britain of his youth, reminding us that the 1970s were a drab time of power cuts, political division, IRA bombings and social attitudes that now seem prehistoric.
Webb found his solace in the sunshine of Morecambe and Wise, the delight of a toy railway set and the gift of a radio that became his window on the world.
He was a boy who simply got on with things, especially at a nightmarish Quaker boarding school marked by the kind of systematic bullying that was once thought to be character-building.
Webb has always seemed unflappable on the airwaves. These entertaining, soul-searching memoirs help to explain his ability to keep calm and carry on.