Click here for complete listing of Alton's titles

New - Children's Book

Memories of Alton Douglas pt1

After spending my National Service as a trombonist, with the band of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, I played in local bands for some time before forming my own group. In order to present something different from the average dance band I began to break up the sets by telling the occasional joke. In time it became a natural progression for me to become a full-time comedian. Over the years I played Dame in panto, Principal Boy opposite Helen Shapiro, appeared in summer shows (including a spell as Principal Comic with the world famous 'Fol de Rols') and played most of the major cabaret venues and theatres in the U.K. (appearing with Paul Daniels, Vera Lynn, Roy Hudd, Frankie Vaughan, Edmund Hockridge and many more). I also acted as warm-up comic for over 1,000 TV shows including 'The Golden Shot', 'The Peggy Lee Show', 'Some Mothers Do 'Ave Em', 'Terry and June', 'New Faces', 'Lunchtime with Wogan', 'Up the workers' and "Are you being served?". Over the years I have acted in training videos, recorded voice-overs for hundreds of radio commercials, been the voice behind several cartoons and children's toys, written showbiz columns and reviewed jazz records and shows and appeared in such TV programmes as 'Angels', 'Seconds Out', 'Crossroads', 'A Soft Touch', 'Muck and Brass', 'The Golden Shot', 'The Knockers', 'The Original Alton Douglas', 'Nights at the Swan', 'Watch This Space', 'The Barmaid's Arms', 'Open University', 'Property Rites', 'Big Deal', 'Newshound', 'Murder of a Moderate Man' and 'The Bretts'. In 1979 I was asked to host the BBC Midlands TV inter-town quiz series 'Know Your Place' and, on finding that they had not yet hired a scriptwriter, I offered my services as writer as well as quizmaster. By the time I'd finished my third series I had discovered a hole in the market - there did not appear to be any books concentrating on the Midlands during the 2nd World War. 'Birmingham at War Vol 1' (published by the Evening Mail) came out in 1982 and was an immediate success. This was followed by another three war books and the idea was then developed to cover a longer span of time. Most of the following books show events over a 100 years or more and they are mainly pictorial, with lots of ads, newspaper cuttings and posters. We cram as many items into each book as possible but, at the same time, we insist that they remain inexpensive to buy. Right from the start we have used high quality paper so that the items are reproduced with excellent clarity and the emphasis throughout is on nostalgia. My wife Jo and I, along with our friend Dennis Moore (ex-RAF/retired Bank Manager) do all our own distribution. In fact, we have carried out so many boxes of books into shops - over 300,000 to date - that Jo and I have had to have osteopathic treatment for neck and back injuries!