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Now Then

A Biography of Yorkshire

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Now Then

By: Rick Broadbent
Narrated by: Stewart Crank
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About this listen

From the perspective of an exiled Yorkshireman this bestselling, award winning author returns to his native county to discover and reveal its soul.

Now Then is a biographical mosaic of Yorkshire. Rick Broadbent, an award-wining author and exiled Yorkshireman, goes in search of the soul of England's biggest county and produces an all-encompassing portrait of a place that has been victimised and stereotyped since the days of Williams the Conqueror. Incorporating social history, memoir, reportage and author interviews, Now Then paints a picture of what it means to be from Yorkshire - both now and back then.

Now Then is not a hagiography and Broadbent visits devastated mining communities, an inner-city homeless shelter and the county's most isolated sheep farm, as well as examining the truth about well-known Yorkshire figures and institutions. From the Bronte sisters and Marks & Spencer to the Yorkshire pudding, accent and Ripper, this is a funny, wise and searching account of the county that gave the world its first football club and its last witch-burning. Ultimately, this is an affectionate but unsparing look at a county, its people and their flinty vowels. It is about the real Yorkshire and its daily life, as well as Dracula and Geoffrey Boycott.

©2023 Rick Broadbent (P)2023 W. F. Howes Ltd
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The actual book is brilliant. I loved the stories and history that seemed to come to life in every chapter. The only criticism is the narrator’s constant mispronunciation of places in Yorkshire, found it started to grate on me, Keighley is pronounced as in the name Keith not Key and Masham is pronounced Massam. I’m sure there was some others I’d picked up on too.

Brilliant biography of Yorkshire

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Enjoyable opening up of many aspects of my county, well narrated eclectic mix, I learnt a lot,

Comprehensive view of Yorkshire

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