'I was no longer fitting in at school. I was unsure of my friends, and they were increasingly unsure of me. I wanted to be a rock star. But while all around, voices were starting to break, acne beginning to appear, facial hair sprouting, I remained all flabby flesh and innate scruff, with a high-pitched whine and not a muscle to my name. I was the runt of the class and rarely allowed to forget it. I had no father at home to help me out, and could hardly talk to my mum. So I took solace in The Jam.' As a boy, Tony Fletcher frequently felt out of place. Yet somehow he secured a ringside seat for one of the most creative periods in British cultural history. Boy About Town tells the story of the bestselling author s formative years in the pre- and post-punk music scenes of London, counting down, from fifty to number one- attendance at seminal gigs and encounters with musical heroes; schoolboy projects that became national success stories; the style culture of punks, mods and skinheads and the tribal violence that enveloped them; life as a latchkey kid in a single-parent household; weekends on the football terraces in a quest for street credibility; and t

Author Biography

Tony Fletcher is the author of seven non-fiction books and one novel. His biography of drummer Keith Moon, Dear Boy, has been named in many a Best Music Book list, and his biography of R.E.M. has been published in several languages. His most recent book, A Light That Never Goes Out- The Enduring Saga of The Smiths, was published by William Heinemann in September 2012.