Stuart Maconie

Early life

Maconie was born in Whiston, Lancashire. He was raised in Wigan, Lancashire. He was educated at St John Rigby College, Orrell and Edge Hill College (now Edge Hill University), in Ormskirk.

While at St John Rigby College, Maconie formed a band named (after several iterations) Les Flirts, featuring Maconie on guitar/vocals, Nigel Power on bass and Jem Bretherton on drums.

Career

In his career as a writer and journalist he has written for Q, Word Magazine, ELLE, The Times, The Guardian, the Evening Standard, Daily Express, Select, Mojo, Country Walking, Deluxe and was an assistant editor for the NME. In September 2008, he began a new monthly column for Cumbria Life magazine. Maconie previously worked as an English and sociology teacher at Skelmersdale College, Lancashire in 1987 and 1988. He has written screenplays for television and films.

Maconie is also the author of Cider with Roadies, an autobiography of his experiences as a music journalist. Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North, a book that discusses the modern reality of Northern England (as opposed to the popular myths), was published in February 2007, with an audio version following in March 2009. Maconie, portraying himself as a "professional northerner", uses childhood experiences alongside anecdotes from later visits to illuminate the book. A third book, Adventures on the High Teas: In Search of Middle England was published in March 2009. Maconie's March 2012 book, Never Mind the Quantocks, is a collection of more than fifty essays from his monthly column in Country Walking magazine.

Maconie claims to be responsible for two urban legends: that Bob Holness, host of the game show Blockbusters, played the saxophone solo on Gerry Rafferty's hit single "Baker Street" The stories first appeared as blatant jokes in a spoof NMEs Believe It or Not feature, but have since been repeated elsewhere as factual.

Maconie also said he was the first to use the term "Britpop" for the British pop music movement of the mid-1990s. John Robb had earlier used the term in 1987 when writing for Sounds. Maconie later said, "I'm sure someone must have used the expression before me about the Hollies, or the Beatles, back in the '60s. But I was the first person to use it about bands like Oasis and Blur".

In February 2023, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd was highly critical of Maconie for an article in the New Statesman which he said misrepresented and misquoted his views on bandmate David Gilmour's musicianship, calling it "shit stirring, ill-informed nonsense."

Publications

Maconie's books include:

• 3862 Days: The Official History of Blur{{cite book
• James – Folklore: The Official History{{cite book
• Cider with Roadies{{cite book | url-access = registration
• Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North{{cite book
• Adventures on the High Teas: In Search of Middle England{{cite book | url-access = registration
• Short Stories for Short Breaks{{cite book
• Never Mind the Quantocks{{cite book
• The Pie at Night: In Search of the North at Play{{cite book
• Long Road from Jarrow: A journey through Britain then and now{{cite book
• The Nanny State Made Me: A Story of Britain and How to Save it{{cite book
• The Full English: A Journey in Search of a Country and its People{{cite book

Broadcasting

As a broadcaster, Maconie has appeared on television and radio.

Radio 1

Maconie was a music reporter for Mark Goodier's Evening Session on BBC Radio 1, alongside Andrew Collins. Also on Radio 1, from 1995 to 1997, Maconie presented a music review with Collins called Collins and Maconie's Hit Parade, which was originally broadcast on Monday nights from 9pm to 10pm and then on Sunday afternoons from 3pm to 4pm. In addition to this, between October 1996 and late 1997, Maconie hosted a weekly album show on Radio 1 on Sunday nights.

Radio 2

Maconie joined BBC Radio 2 in 1998, presenting shows such as All Singing, All Dancing, All Night, a Northern soul music show, and, for several years, Stuart Maconie's Critical List on Saturday evenings. He also presents documentaries and deputised for Johnnie Walker on the Drivetime programme.

From April 2006 to 29 March 2008, Maconie presented the Saturday afternoon show previously presented by Chris Evans.

In addition to his Saturday show, on 16 April 2007, Maconie joined forces with Mark Radcliffe to present a new show on Radio 2 which was broadcast between Monday and Wednesday (Monday to Thursday up to April 2010) from 8pm to 10pm. In spring 2011, this show was transferred to Radio 6 Music in the afternoon slot, 14pm weekdays, later moving to weekend mornings from 8am to 10am. In 2012, Maconie began presenting The People's Songs, a "story of modern Britain in 50 records". Described as "music as social history", 50 programmes in the series examine periods in Britain, the events that were occurring and how a particular song was the soundtrack of that period.

Radio 5 Live

From 1994 to 2001, Maconie presented the satirical news review The Treatment on BBC Radio 5 Live.

BBC Radio 6 Music

Maconie also joined BBC Radio 6 Music at its launch in 2002, where he presents The Freak Zone radio show. It is described as "the weird, the wonderful and all that's in between", and is very diverse in musical content. This show is broadcast every Sunday from 8pm to 10pm, and has been supplemented in 2010 with The Freakier Zone, which airs from midnight to 1am every Saturday night/Sunday morning. In spring 2011, his Radio 2 show with Mark Radcliffe was moved to 6 Music, weekdays 14pm. The afternoon show ended on 21 December 2018 and moved to the weekend breakfast show in January 2019.

Other broadcasting

Maconie has also presented musical specials for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 3, and has appeared on television and in films. In 2007 he presented Stuart Maconie's TV Towns for ITV3, six one-hour shows about TV and film locations in Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, Liverpool and London.

In February 2015 he was the guest of Sarah Walker on BBC Radio 3's Essential Classics. Since 2016 he has appeared on the North of England team on Radio 4's Round Britain Quiz.

Other projects

Maconie was President of The Ramblers from 2017 to 2023 and is a keen fellwalker. On 20 June 2009, he completed all 214 Wainwrights in Cumbria and is an honorary member of the Wainwright Society, having given their Memorial Lecture in 2006. In late 2009, Experience Northwest released a series of short stories he wrote about the hidden gems in England's Northwest.

Personal life

Maconie is a supporter of Wigan Athletic and Wigan Warriors. In December 2009, Maconie was awarded an honorary Master's degree by Edge Hill University, Ormskirk. The university has a hall of residence called Maconie in his honour.

In July 2011, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) from the University of Bolton.

In January 2016 he became a patron of Warley Woods after a number of years being actively involved.

Politics

Maconie is politically left of centre and joined the Labour Party at the age of 17. He has commented on Marxism: "In these days of identity politics and what you might call 'the selfie-fication' of political thought, Marxism remains refreshingly bracing in its view of the world."

References

References

1. "Slade says more about Britain than Nick Cave – Garstang Courier".
2. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0100rp6 ''Radcliffe and Maconie''] (BBC Radio 6 Music)
3. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0072l4x ''Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone''] (BBC Radio 6 Music)
4. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rwkjd ''Freak Zone Playlist''] (BBC Radio 6 Music)
5. (2012). "Stuart Maconie". Wigan Leisure & Culture Trust.
6. Thair, David. (22 May 2009). "Comedy Blog: HIGNFY Guest interview: Stuart Maconie". BBC.
7. (2011-09-02). "How John Robb made up the word 'Britpop'!".
8. Laing, Rob. (22 February 2023). ""It's the usual, s**t stirring, ill informed nonsense" – Roger Waters denies calling David Gilmour's Pink Floyd guitar solos on Dark Side of the Moon "horrible"". [[MusicRadar]].
9. "The People's Songs Gallery". British Music Experience.com.
10. Harris, John. (13 June 2013). "The People's Songs: The Story of Modern Britain in 50 Records by Stuart Maconie – review". [[The Guardian]].
11. (4 February 2015). "Essential Classics". [[BBC Radio 3]].
12. "Stuart Maconie named as our new president". [[The Ramblers]].
13. (Summer 2023). "Presenting our new president". Ramblers.
14. (29 March 2023). "Amar Latif to be appointed as President of the Ramblers". Ramblers.
15. Maconie, Stuart. (2012). "Never Mind the Quantocks". [[David & Charles]].
16. (2006). "Wainwright Society Memorial Lecture 2006".
17. (14 September 2008). "Stuart's Short Stories for Short Breaks - Home".
18. "Visit England's North West".
19. (3 April 2010). "Stuart Maconie on his love for Wigan Athletic". BBC Sport.
20. Maconie, Stuart. "Why rugby league is obviously better than rugby union". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
21. (3 December 2009). "BBC Radio presenter Stuart Maconie to be given honorary Master's degree at Edge Hill University". Ormskirk and Skelmersdale Advertiser.
22. (2014). "Living on Campus: Accommodation: Graduates Court". Edge Hill University.
23. (11 July 2011). "University celebrates student success". University of Bolton.
24. (21 January 2016). "New Patron for the Community Trust". Warley Woods.
25. (4 January 2021). "The Nanny State Made Me".
26. Maconie, Stuart. (31 July 2017). "I'm a Marxist – we are misunderstood on both the left and right". [[New Statesman]].