The Real Gorbals Story: True Tales from Glasgow's Meanest Streets
In the 1950s, Colin MacFarlane was born in the Gorbals, a working-class neighborhood in Glasgow, Scotland. MacFarlane witnessed the last days of the old Gorbals just as a major regeneration program began in 1961 and, as a street boy, he had a unique insight into a once great community in rapid decline. He witnessed numerous drunken fights, gang battles, police corruption, and even the occasional murder. But the Gorbals had another side, one where ordinary, hard-working people were trying to survive in what was arguably at one time the most notorious area in the world. In this engrossing new book, Macfarlane reveals what it was really like to live in the old Gorbals.

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The Real Gorbals Story: True Tales from Glasgow's Meanest Streets
In the 1950s, Colin MacFarlane was born in the Gorbals, a working-class neighborhood in Glasgow, Scotland. MacFarlane witnessed the last days of the old Gorbals just as a major regeneration program began in 1961 and, as a street boy, he had a unique insight into a once great community in rapid decline. He witnessed numerous drunken fights, gang battles, police corruption, and even the occasional murder. But the Gorbals had another side, one where ordinary, hard-working people were trying to survive in what was arguably at one time the most notorious area in the world. In this engrossing new book, Macfarlane reveals what it was really like to live in the old Gorbals.

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The Real Gorbals Story: True Tales from Glasgow's Meanest Streets

The Real Gorbals Story: True Tales from Glasgow's Meanest Streets

by Colin MacFarlane
The Real Gorbals Story: True Tales from Glasgow's Meanest Streets

The Real Gorbals Story: True Tales from Glasgow's Meanest Streets

by Colin MacFarlane

Paperback

$22.95 
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Overview

In the 1950s, Colin MacFarlane was born in the Gorbals, a working-class neighborhood in Glasgow, Scotland. MacFarlane witnessed the last days of the old Gorbals just as a major regeneration program began in 1961 and, as a street boy, he had a unique insight into a once great community in rapid decline. He witnessed numerous drunken fights, gang battles, police corruption, and even the occasional murder. But the Gorbals had another side, one where ordinary, hard-working people were trying to survive in what was arguably at one time the most notorious area in the world. In this engrossing new book, Macfarlane reveals what it was really like to live in the old Gorbals.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781845962074
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing Company, Limited
Publication date: 09/28/2007
Pages: 240
Product dimensions: 5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Colin MacFarlane is a journalist and has written for a number of national newspapers, including Scotland on Sunday, the Sunday Times, the Scottish Sun, and the Daily Record. He is the author of two other books about his Gorbals upbringing, No Mean Glasgow and Gorbals Diehards.

Table of Contents

Foreword Lorraine Kelly 9

Preface 11

Chapter 1 Murder Polis 13

Chapter 2 A Gorbals Family 27

Chapter 3 Life, Death and Love 39

Chapter 4 Party Time 47

Chapter 5 The Steamie 51

Chapter 6 Football Crazy 55

Chapter 7 Hudgies, Bogeys and Midgie Raking 61

Chapter 8 University of Life 73

Chapter 9 Playtime 79

Chapter 10 Scrambling and Gambling 89

Chapter 11 Relics of a Bygone Age 93

Chapter 12 Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk 99

Chapter 13 Rat-trap 103

Chapter 14 The Big Melting Pot 107

Chapter 15 Shopping 115

Chapter 16 The Bunnet Brigade 123

Chapter 17 Dodgy Characters and Poor Souls 133

Chapter 18 An Alternative Education 141

Chapter 19 Cumbie ya Bass! 153

Chapter 20 Policing the Gorbals 161

Chapter 21 Watching Motors 169

Chapter 22 Shady Dealings 175

Chapter 23 Romancing and Dancing 185

Chapter 24 Wine Time 191

Chapter 25 Daft Boys 197

Chapter 26 Truant Adventures 207

Chapter 27 Serious Stuff 213

Chapter 28 Who Murdered the Gorbals? 221

Postscript 231

Appendix Famous Gorbals People 233

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