Writing

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"An absorbing read’, ’hard to put down’, ‘a delightful book’, - cliches I’m afraid, but they’re all true. I read the book at a sitting, and I’ve since enjoyed browsing through it.

Gilbert Sargent would have been 100 this year. The book is realistic in approach, rather than nostalgic. Sargent’s words are faithfully reproduced (except, as Dave Arthur tells us, for the excision of the word ‘like’, with which he ended nearly all his sentences. They are punctuated by pieces of information supplied by the editor - extracts from documents, snatches of song, items of Sussex lore, background material.

The whole thing is very skilfully done. The result is a lively and enjoyable piece of work which is full of interest."

"I waited ten years for this book and when I got it I realised just why I had to wait that long. Dave Arthur accomplished the most thorough piece of biographical research I have seen for a long time. Along with many others who knew Bert, I thought I knew a lot about him. Fact is I knew next to nothing! This book revealed a man of so many parts that it was clear that those who came into contact with him through whatever movement they were involved with, folk song, politics, theatre, only saw of him what he wanted them to see. My Book of the Year"