Metroland: The people, places and history encountered via the Tyne and Wear Metro is a new travel book which uses the Metro network as the basis to take a trip around the region looking to the past, present and future. Written by Keith Watson the book mixes observations on life with recent and more traditional history, sport and humour.
In the book he also draws upon the personal experiences and memories created after being born in Sunderland, raised in Washington, schooled in Newcastle and having one set of grandparents on Tyneside and the other on Wearside.
Discussing the book, Keith said: “First and foremost, the book is framed around the Metro stations, but it is also about the people, places and history of the area.
“I’m not a historian or a sociologist, a political aficionado or an architectural expert, I’m a newspaper sports sub-editor by trade, so this book is not intended to be an in-depth dive into particular topics, and is simply a snapshot in time, not an exhaustive study.
“I’d like to think I’m reasonably well-placed to write about the whole region as I’m from Sunderland, but I know Newcastle very well, and growing up I spent a lot of time in Wallsend, Gosforth, Jesmond and Whitley Bay, for example.
“The Newcastle-Sunderland rivalry, a lot of people see a massive divide, but I know from personal experience that Mackems and Geordies mix a lot more than some people would have you believe, and even the most diehard football fan of one persuasion or the other is probably glad deep down that the other side is there just so they can dislike them.”
Taking a trip around the Metro network Keith delves into the past with the Venerable Bede and William the Conqueror, discovers Monkseaton’s intriguing fart lamps and remembers when Look North’s Dawn Thewlis threw a bucket of cold water over him.
The book can be preordered at https://www.a-love-supreme.com/product-page/metroland for £10.