An Autobiography, Peter Roberts – A Legend in his own Lifetime

Published by: Jagrins Music Publications
Release date: 13th September 2003
Price: £11.99 + P&P

I was once told that all good stories should either start with "Once Upon a Time" or "It was a bleak and stormy night". As the first line proper of Peter Roberts autobiography starts with "It is Grimethorpe; South Yorkshire late 1949... I now make that a list of three.

Peter Roberts was born on the 30th June 1950 into a happy working class family; a child of the post war austerity years in an industrial community who's very being was inextricably linked to the coal mining industry. Never has a town's name so aptly described itself. Grimethorpe... You can immediately picture it.

The story of Peter Roberts is in fact a microcosm of the community from which he comes. Grimethorpe in the mid 1950's and early 1960's was a town that had only one future; Coal. By the time the Miners had been instrumental in defeating Edward Heath's Government in 1974, many in those communities believed their futures were secure and that small towns such as Grimethorpe would be able to offer the working sons of generations of colliers, full employment for life. The same applied to Peter Roberts.

1974 was in fact the high point for the mining industry and for Grimethorpe in particular. Within 10 years, Mrs Thatcher had started to destroy it all and by 1992 the axe fell on Grimethorpe and it's pit itself. Nothing has ever been the same since, and this is why Peter Roberts story reflects so accurately that of the industry he was born into 53 years ago.

His early life seems to have been happy and mischievous. School was enjoyed, and although he never quite excelled (his elder brother he recalls was more the academic) the pit offered secure employment with the opportunity for an intelligent man to improve himself. Friendships were forged (many to last all his life) and when the chance came to join the Grimethorpe Junior Band he grabbed it with both hands. The rest as they say, is history.

His story goes deeper than this though and it is told in a manner that is both honest and open. It is a story of a man who through circumstance has had to change and modify, alter and convert; from a miner to being unemployed, from a mature student to teacher to community driver and finally to a well deserved retirement. The player has always remained constant – constantly brilliant, yet the man has travelled at times a rocky and demanding personal path.

Like the man himself the book is sometimes brilliant, sometimes complicated, sometimes a little hard to follow and understand; yet it is always entertaining and always full value. It is written as he speaks, so at times the tenses are mixed and the chronological line slightly crooked. The reminiscences though are told in such an entertaining manner and with a lovely hint of self deprecation with an almost elephantine memory for detail.

Each of the chapters recalls periods in his life when the band plays an important, but not the sole motivation in his life. Victories and defeats are recalled with a clarity that make you wonder if he was keeping notes like a later day Tony Benn diarist. What makes them all the more entertaining and valuable are that they are recalled in relation to what was going on in his day to day life.

Births, deaths and marriages are recalled – some, like the deaths of family and personal friends with an acute sense of sadness and poignancy. Whilst each of those 'wins' (and there are many) has a little personal footnote that reminds the reader that even at the highest level winning means different things to different people.

The disappointments (hearing problems, redundancy), the struggles (becoming a mature student) and even the slightly absurd (too many to mention) are written with a sharp and acute eye, yet through it all his modesty about his playing accomplishments and more importantly his personal achievements shines through. He is never boastful, flippant or crowing about what he has achieved as a player – just matter of fact and down to earth, whilst he is gracious and fulsome in his praise of others. There is no revelation from him on how to become a great player, or how he became a great player – which may disappoint some. It is simply a story of an ordinary man with an extraordinary musical talent.

It is gregarious and funny, personal and academic. All the important banding events are covered in detail, so that even the most ardent anorak will be pleased. It is the intimate insights into a life that started with such certainties yet developed in a manner that would have tested men in much more fortunate social and economic circumstances to the full, that we glimpse the true man behind the soprano.

As Elgar Howarth so aptly describes him in his lovely foreword, "he is a great player and a great bandsman".

Iwan Fox

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