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Ian Peter Marchant (born 14 March 1958) is an English writer, broadcaster and performer born in
Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
. He is best known for his non-fiction—mainly
travel writing Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel ca ...
and memoir—but he has also written two novels and several other books, as well as short stories and newspaper articles. Following the completion of ''Parallel Lines'' and ''The Longest Crawl'' he has been invited to contribute to several programmes and newspaper features on the topics of railway travel and pub culture, and is often quoted in reviews of other books on these topics. He has made several programmes for
BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...
and for UK regional television. Marchant is also a Lecturer in Creative Writing in the School of English at
Birmingham City University , mottoeng = "Do what you are doing; attend to your business" , established = 1992—gained university status1971—City of Birmingham Polytechnic1843—Birmingham College of Art , type = Public , affiliation = ...
.


Career


Books

''Parallel Lines'' (2003) examines the history of the British railway system and meets people involved with it. ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...
'' described it as "wonderfully funny...by turns vulgar, cutting, lyrical, erudite and satirical. But what really makes the book — especially for fellow addicts — is the attention to railway detail." ''The Longest Crawl'' (2006) describes a journey through the pubs of Britain, from the southernmost to the northernmost, taking in the history of Britain's relationship with alcohol. Nick Lezard in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'' chose it as his Book of the Week, commenting "he has a way of telling a story, a pleasing tone, and a way of shoving in a lot of information - and philosophy, too, at one point - without a trace of lecturing. It's a big, fat affirmation of life, and Lord knows, we can all do with one of them from time to time." ''Something of the Night'' (2012) is subtitled "A journey through the darkness of the British Isles" and includes facts about what happens at night; but it is also a very personal book, looking at the author's own relationship with various aspects of night-time. The London ''
Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...
'', noting that the contents included "straw mattresses, fireworks, Bonfire Night in Lewes, pop music, floodlit football matches...the Northern Irish linen industry...ex-girlfriends...nightingales, death" concluded that Marchant "carries us through all this, with patience, good humour, self-lacerating honesty and an immense amount of charm. I don't see how anyone could fail to like it."


Broadcasting

Ian Marchant's 2011 programme for
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...
, ''The Ghost Trains of Old England'' was featured on the station's '' Pick of the Week''. His
BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also featuring. The st ...
programme in the same year, ''Walking with Attitude'', was chosen as a radio highlight by the ''
Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...
'' and ''The Guardian''. In 2012 the ''Radio Times'' described his ''North and South'' programme as "arrestingly well-written." Some of his work includes: *'' North and South: Across the Great Divide'', Radio Four, February 2012 *'' The Sunday Feature, Walking With Attitude'', Radio Three, December 2011 *'' The Completists'', Radio Four, February 2011 *'' The Ghost Trains of Old England'', Radio Four, October 2010 *'' The Archive Hour'', Radio Four, September 2010 *'' Top Deck'', half hour documentary for Radio Four, broadcast January 2009. *'' A Load of Rubbish'', five-part series for Radio Four, broadcast December 2008 *Presenter/co-writer of ''Fun For Some'', 4-part documentary/light entertainment series for ITV Border, broadcast April/May 2008 *Presenter of ''Thomas Telford'', half hour documentary for ITV Border, broadcast Oct. 2007. Nominated for Royal Television Society Award, best local documentary 2007.


Drama and performing

The drama ''White Open Spaces'' was staged at the Edinburgh Festival and nominated for an Arts Council Decibel Award in 2008. As part of the act "Your Dad", Ian Marchant has performed at
Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contempo ...
,
Secret Garden Party The Secret Garden Party, often colloquially shortened to the SGP, is an independent arts and music festival which takes place in Abbots Ripton near Huntingdon in England. This location is on part of the grounds of a Georgian farmhouse and has it ...
, Eden Festival and Sheep Music. An article about his live performances was featured by ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper Sunday editions, published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group, Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. ...
'' in 2009.


Bibliography

*''Juggling for a Degree - Experiences of mature students n further education'' - 1995, Innovations in Higher Education, co-editor with Hilary Arksey. *''In Southern Waters'' - 1999, Victor Gollancz *''The Battle For Dole Acre'' - 2001, Weidenfeld & Nicolson *''Crypts, Caves and Tunnels of London'' - 2002, Watling Street Publishing *''Men and Models'' - 2003, New Holland *''Parallel Lines'' - 2003, Bloomsbury *''The Longest Crawl'' - 2006, Bloomsbury *''Something of the Night'' - 2012, Simon and Schuster *''A Hero for High Times'' - 2018, Jonathan Cape


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marchant, Ian Living people English travel writers 1958 births