Broken Greek
A Story of Chip Shops and Pop Songs
- Paperback
592 pages
- Release Date
10 March 2020
Summary
‘Do you sometimes feel like the music you’re hearing is explaining your life to you?’
When Pete’s parents moved from Cyprus to Birmingham in the 1960s in the hope of a better life, they had no money and only a little bit of English. They opened a fish-and-chip shop in Acocks Green. The Great Western Fish Bar is where Pete learned about coin-operated machines, male banter and Britishness.
Shy and introverted, Pete stopped speaking from age 4 to 7, and found ref…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781529405842 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 152940584X |
| Author: | Pete Paphides |
| Publisher: | Quercus Publishing |
| Imprint: | Quercus Publishing |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 592 |
| Release Date: | 10 March 2020 |
| Weight: | 720g |
| Dimensions: | 232mm x 152mm x 40mm |
What They're Saying
Critics Review
Tender, clever and as funny as it gets… a heart-piercing joy. - Lauren Laverne
Heartfelt, hilarious and beautifully written, Broken Greek is a childhood memoir like no other - a rapt testament to music’s extraordinary power to root you in the world when little else seems to be doing the trick. - Cathy NewmanOh, how I love Pete Paphides and this book. He can’t write a paragraph that isn’t funny or moving or insightful and often all three at once. For someone from a refugee family, like me, it just reads so true, but it’s also a painting of another life so rich, so deep, that they should hang it in the National Gallery. - Daniel Finkelstein, Associate Editor at The TimesAbout The Author
Pete Paphides
Pete Paphides started his career in music journalism at Melody Maker before going on to write for Time Out, the Guardian, Mojo, Q, Observer Music Monthly and The Times, where he spent five years as their Chief Rock Critic. He has made several documentaries for BBC Radio 4, including ‘Lost Albums’, ‘Follow-Up Albums’, ‘The Songs of Molly Drake’ and ‘Good Grief: The Story of “Peanuts”’. He has been a regular contributor to BBC Four music documentaries and hosted two series of ‘Vinyl Revival’ for BBC 6 Music. Since 2015, he has hosted a weekly music show for Soho Radio and also runs his own record label, Needle Mythology. He is married to the writer and journalist Caitlin Moran. Broken Greek is his first book.
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