The 1950s are often seen as the “grey decade”, marred by austerity, rationing and conformity. True, but Next Year Will Be Better also tells of skiffle, jazz, CND, Teds, the Angry Young Men, new movements in art and literature. Meanwhile there was work to be had, on building sites and on holiday camps. And there was the joys of Eel Pie Island, Soho, hearing Louis Armstrong, playing jazz and being kissed by Allen Ginsberg.
“Only a dedicated sourpuss could fail to be swept along by Lucas’s zest and intelligence”
The Spectator
John Lucas is an Emeritus Professor at the Universities of Loughborough and Nottingham. His 92 Acharnon Street won the Authors Club Dolman Prize for Travel Writing and was reviewed everywhere. He is the author of over forty books of poetry, social history and criticism and is the editor at Shoestring Press.
“Only a dedicated sourpuss could fail to be swept along by Lucas’s zest and intelligence”
The Spectator
John Lucas is an Emeritus Professor at the Universities of Loughborough and Nottingham. His 92 Acharnon Street won the Authors Club Dolman Prize for Travel Writing and was reviewed everywhere. He is the author of over forty books of poetry, social history and criticism and is the editor at Shoestring Press.