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Martyn Johnson - Author, Metal Detectorist and Historian.
Daily Express Review
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"Martyn Johnson's What's Tha Up To? Memories of a Yorkshire Bobby (Sphere, £5.99) is a wonderful slice-of-life autobiography by a policeman who spent seventeen years as "an ordinary beat bobby" in Sheffield in the Sixties, just as the Z cars (Zephyr Zodiacs) were beginning to transform the nature of British policing.
Johnson's first prisoner, taken in the pitch-blackness, was a 75 year old coal thief who was using a pram to transport his plunder. Johnson let him off earning the approval of his sergeant, who believed that a policeman needed to have brains but that a copper had to have brains and common sense. The book is a vividly atmospheric collection of stories, with plenty of humour, from a time "when a health and safety risk assessment meant checking your shoelaces before setting out on patrol", as Johnson's chum, retired detective inspector Paul Johnson (no relation), puts it in his afterword."
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Welcome to the website of Martyn Johnson; Author, Metal Detectorist and Historian. On this site you will find details of Martyn's best selling book 'What's tha up to - Memories of an Attercliffe Bobby'. You can also find details about his hobby as a Metal Detectorist, details of his talks and tours on the history of South Yorkshire, in particular the Roman village of Darfield and the Pits and Coalfields in the Rotherham and Barnsley area. You will also get an insight into his involvement with Black Diamonds, the most read book in Yorkshire
He was a regular speaker on Radio Sheffield with his late and great old pal Tony Capstick. Martyn joined him on his afternoon show to talk about his hobby of metal detecting and was affectionately know as Metal Detecting Martyn. He is very keen on local history and, having been born and bred in Darfield, is actively helping to raise funds for the Friends of Darfield Church Yard appeal and, as a result of this groups efforts, monuments are being restored to their former glory and the churchyard is being restored to a place of tranquility and a haven for wild life. He and his wife Christine are pictured at Wentworth Garden Centre celebrating the launch of his second book What's Tha Up To Nah? Christine and Martyn have been married for 42 years and, like Martyn, she gives talks on her hobby of beekeeping. |
What's Tha Up To? | |
If you want to know what it was really like to be a policeman in a large working-class area of Sheffield during the 1960s and 1970s then Martyn Johnson's memories provide us with a superb insight of the twilight era of the 'beat bobby'. Centred on Attercliffe and Darnall, we meet a host of colourful characters, lovable (and not so lovable) rogues and a rich variety of incidents and events that could not have been imagined even by the most creative of fiction writers. But they are all true. Read about amazing traffic accidents, impromptu fights, antics of burglars and thieves, 'domestics', a dreadful house fire, a dead horse that moved, a lost peacock, suicides and suspicious deaths, mortuary training, and even UFO's. Along the way we meet a host of lovely people that made up an almost forgotten and fading part of old Sheffield; and a few visitors too, including the great Brazilian footballer Pele. At times hilarious, occasionally sad, but never dull, this book is highly recommended for anyone interested in our recent social history. Amazon have some very nice reviews of What's Tha Up To - check them out. Following the success of Martyn's first book, What's Tha Up To? published by Warncliffe Books, Barnsley, Little Browns Publishing Company have spotted it's potential and the copyright has been bought by them. They liked it so much that they have newly published it under the name of their subsidiary company Sphere.
The new version of What's Tha Up To? is now in the shops and in the first week of sales it has reached number 10 in the Sunday Times Bestsellers list of 2nd October 2011, this is great news. Martyn is delighted and all praise to Sphere Publishing Company for their help and support. If you wish Martyn will personalise your book so, when you send your request, please let us know what wording you would like and we will send you a copy by return
The publication of What's Tha Up To Nah? has been brought forward and has now been released for sale. It is a fascinating insight into how the bobby did his job in the 1960/70s. It has the same mixture of sadness and hilarity and, as with What's Tha Up To?, it is an uplifting read which raises the spirits and leaves you wanting more. |
This is Martyn's best selling book detailing his memories as a 'beat bobby' in one of Sheffield's toughest area's during the 1960s and 1970s.
