From Working Class Hero to Absolute Disgrace

When Stephen Foster departed for London from his hometown of Stoke, he was wearing an army surplus jacket accessorised with a CND badge, and he took with him a distinct set of attitude problems. It was the late Seventies; the south-east was on the brink of a social and economic boom – think Thatcher, Yuppies, Wham! and Essex Man.

These were awful times for working-class heroes like Stephen, those who believed in Arthur Scargill, who listened to Dylan and Joy Division, and who reviled the Porsche 911. The south was a travesty. He would never fit in – he couldn’t.

Three decades later he had turned into the kind of poseur who had a recipe book with instructions for making Eton mess and smoked aubergine purée lying on his ornamental butcher’s block next to his six-burner range in his nice middle-class kitchen. How had this disastrous state of affairs come about?

From Working Class Hero to Absolute Disgrace is a riveting cultural memoir, funny and touching in equal measure. It will transport you back to one of the great con eras – when we were encouraged to put gel in our hair, wear blazers with rolled-up sleeves and turn our back on our roots…

“I wept with laughter… This book is pure pleasure.” – Rowan Pelling, The Telegraph

“A rollicking story.” – Iain Finlayson, The Times

“This book has soul and poignancy on top of its sharp humour” – New Statesman

“A hillarious and searingly honest look at class in the Eighties” – Tim Dowling

About Stephen Foster

Stephen Foster was the author of six books including the bestselling Walking Ollie (Short 2007) which has sold more than 100,000 copies.

Other books by this author