Newcastle University

How much contact did you have with books when you were younger?

We didn’t have a lot of books in the house, as opposed to perhaps what they would do now, because I was born in the fifties. But what I used to do, was go to the library. In those days you had a lot of what you would call local libraries, really just streets away, as opposed to now, so we used to go to the library every Saturday morning – that was me and my brother and sister; my mother used to take us. But I was more keen on it than they were. I just absolutely loved it; it was almost like the highlight of the week, to go to the library. So we used to go to the local library and get quite a few books out – probably three or four, you would get then. But in terms of the house, we never really had a lot of books, to be fair, in those days. I can’t really recall. Obviously, we used to get a lot of … [I?] went to a grammar school; we used to get a lot of books at school, and you could bring those home. But not sort of ... If you’re thinking more in the house ... As opposed to now, like my grandchildren have hundreds of books. It’s not what we kind of did then. We always borrowed. You did get the odd book; the main thing, you always got a Bible, which I’ve still got. When you were ten or eleven, I think I got it. And I got … Little Women, I’ve got – I’ve still got that original book. But not that many. I’ve got a couple of books from my childhood, but in the main we didn’t have a lot of books.

But you did go to the library?

Every Saturday morning, yes. Loved it. Absolutely loved it.