Book One · 1952 – 1986
Thirty-four years, four lives, one man
The first volume of RP Monk's memoir: a boy from Wolverhampton, a guitar he was told would gather dust, and the long way round to an island in the Indian Ocean.
About the book
A life that wouldn't stay put
The Foreword opens with eight men. A lab technician in Birmingham with long wavy hair. A guitarist who thinks a solo in front of five hundred fans beats almost anything. A sales rep in a Marks & Spencer suit. A bronzed holiday-resort entertainer. A sales and marketing manager in Australia, an English teacher and school owner in Japan, a teacher of English to refugees and newcomers back in England, and a retired man with a guitar in Spain. Then comes the twist: they are all the same person.
Book One is the story of the first four. It begins in March 1952 in a small house in Wednesfield, with a coronation watched on one of the first TV sets in the street and a father nobody in the house dared cross. It follows Robert through grammar school and the sixth-form guitar club, a wrong choice of A-levels, and a year at Trent Poly where a stranger on the train turns him, by accident, into "Bob".
Then Birmingham. For most of the seventies he is a research technician at the University by day, working on antigens, brewing yeast and muscle protein, and a guitarist by night in a run of local bands: Morrison, Valhalla, Beau Flyer, Cold Comfort. Pub gigs, student unions, a Saturday residency at The Railway, the late-night curry that follows every show. When the lab gets too small he moves into scientific sales, and the band called Video signs to Logo Records.
Nothing goes quite to plan. The single stalls, the bands break up, a whirlwind marriage lasts a year, and at thirty he wonders if his chance has gone. Then a holiday in Corfu, an old friend, a four-track cassette recorder and an advert in the music papers lead to an audition for Club Méditerranée, a summer season in Greece, and a telegram that names an island neither of them can pronounce.
It is a funny book, and a frank one. It is also a portrait of Britain changing around a young man: the music, the clothes, the pubs, the accents, from the Coronation to Relax.
Contents
Ten chapters, 1952 to 1986
Each chapter covers a stretch of years and a change of scene. The titles are the author's own.
- · Foreword
- 1 The Wolverhampton Years 1952 – 1970
- 2 Escape to Nottingham, then Dishwashing! 1970 – 1971
- 3 The Early Seventies in Birmingham 1971 – 1973
- 4 The Mid-Seventies in Birmingham 1974 – 1976
- 5 The Late Seventies in Birmingham 1976 – 1978
- 6 Knocking on Fame's Door 1979
- 7 A New Decade Heralds Big Changes for Me 1980
- 8 Heading into Those Early Thirties 1981 – 1985
- 9 Greece Awaits and a New Lifestyle 1985
- 10 Whisked to Paradise! 1985 – 1986
- · Postscript
Liner notes
What the book is about
Eight themes run through Book One. Some are loud, some are quiet, and one of them is his mom's laugh.
Side A
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A1
Music
The Shadows, The Beatles, Rory Gallagher. Every chapter has a soundtrack, and he will tell you what was in the charts that year, what was brilliant and what was, in his words, mush.
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A2
Starting again
Eight versions of one man, and what it takes to walk away from a decent life and become the next one.
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A3
Friends
John, JJ, Rob W, and Steve, the snooker partner who ends up beside him on a Greek stage in a flowery shirt.
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A4
Mom
Margaret, "Maggie Monk" to his friends, whose laugh runs through the whole book and who is in the crowd on the biggest night of his musical life.
Side B
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B1
Changing times
Mods and rockers, flower power, glam, punks spitting at Bogart's, the new romantics. Britain from 1952 to 1986 through eyes that witnessed it all.
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B2
Near misses
A single that stalls at number 83, an E-Type at 130 mph, a head-on crash, a stonefish. The book is full of how close things come.
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B3
Love
School sweethearts, a band romance, a marriage that lasts a year. He has a type, knows it, and keeps meaning to change it.
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B4
Far-off places
Paris, Evia, Malé Atoll, and the people who live and work there: French chefs, Aussie divers, Sri Lankan barmen and Maldivian crews.
From the pages
Three moments, set down on paper
The original Video single from the author's own collection, and two illustrations of moments the book describes. A flavour of what is waiting inside.
Book details
The essentials
- Title
- The Adventures of Robert, Bob, Rob, Ropp, Lobaato & Robby
- Volume
- Book One of two
- Covers
- 1952 – 1986
- Author
- RP Monk
- Genre
- Memoir
- Language
- English
For adult readers. Contains strong language, frank descriptions of sex and drug use, and an account of abuse the author suffered as a child.
Coming next
Book Two: the other four
- VA national sales and marketing manager in Australia
- VIAn English teacher & school owner in Japan
- VIIA teacher of English to speakers of other languages, back in the UK
- VIIIA retired man with a guitar, somewhere near the beaches in Spain
Seventeen years away from Britain, a return, and three more decades. Release news will appear in the Journal first.
Buy the book
The Adventures of Robert, Bob, Rob, Ropp, Lobaato & Robby
Book One1952 – 1986by RP Monk
Thirty-four years, ten chapters and the first four of the eight men Robert Monk turned out to be. Funny, frank and full of music, from the Coronation, watched on one of the first TVs in the street, to the Club Med jetty on Farukolufushi.
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Link coming soon
Paperback
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Hardcover
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eBook
Also available from
- Amazon coming soon
Buying links are being added. Want to be sure of a copy? Send a book enquiry and we will let you know where to get it.
For adult readers: strong language, frank descriptions of sex and drug use, and an account of childhood abuse.
Book One · 1952 – 1986
Every journey begins somewhere.
This one begins in a small house in Wednesfield in March 1952, and it doesn't sit still for thirty-four years. Start it tonight.