I think James is a good example of the old adage 'make your hobby your job and never work a day in your life'. No matter the obstacles in his way, whether that’s dinosaurs at the IPC, colleagues who said he’d never own a fancy sports car, or critics who looked down on his ‘laddish’ approach to magazine publishing, Brown did whatever it is he wanted to do. Photograph: Harry Borden/The Guardian View image in fullscreen James Brown says he feels like a ‘beaten up old car’ these days. In the first few chapters he jumps back and fore mixing anecdotes from his career, such as tripping on acid at an awards ceremony, to tales from what he describes as his ‘first childhood’. Bright, loud, funny, provocative, ambitious and careless, loaded was read from the barracks of Afghanistan to the England dressing room at Euro ’96.

But asked if he has regrets about any of the stuff they published – even the glorification of the drugs that nearly killed him – Brown pauses, laughs and says no. But in this instance, there seems to be zero humility from the author, or any sort of inward looking acknowledgement of his behaviour. If I didn’t have a nine-year-old son, or if I actually lived with him and his mum, I would have moved to New York or Tokyo by now. It’s about, celebrities, football, drugs, a crisps World Cup, travelling, partying and a dose of self reflection.We also use them to help detect unauthorized access or activity that violate our terms of service, as well as to analyze site traffic and performance for our own site improvement efforts.

Read more about the condition New: A new, unread, unused book in perfect condition with no missing or damaged pages. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives. Throughout his childhood, she suffered mental health episodes that landed her in High Royds psychiatric hospital in Leeds. Was here for the anecdotes about the people in the 'scene' in the ,80s,/90s but all you get is Brown's impact on the 80s/90s.Loaded's unexpected success legitimised (and paid for) James's lifestyle, and it wasn't until he crashed and burned at GQ, and went through rehab, that any sense of perspective kicked in. Along the way they dream up genius headlines like ‘Fifty ways to lose your liver’, ‘Chocolate and the Charlie factory’ and ‘Sushi and the van keys’. Most purchases from business sellers are protected by the Consumer Contract Regulations 2013 which give you the right to cancel the purchase within 14 days after the day you receive the item.

Bookplates are official labels which are signed by the author and then fixed to the title page of the book. One of Browns traits was being a tad cocky, which probably helped him get the gigs and into gigs he was employed to earn his keep. He floated his own publishing company on AIM and became an in-demand public speaker and creative consultant for leading brands, agencies and publishing houses.I liked the James in this book but I feel he may have hidden a lot of his bad behaviour as he said a few times that he had condensed down the original draft of his anecdotes significantly. I was going to say no, but I did have two strange experiences in Filey around both my mum and granny who had both passed away, one of which was utterly unexplainable. Pretty soon, at the age of 22, he was the Features Editor at the legendary NME, which is where I first encountered his work. Seemingly overnight, London was the Technicolour centre of the universe and James and his merry bunch of men and women were in the eye of the storm. I was a regular reader of the NME from the late seventies till long after it ceased to be relevant, some time in the naughties.

Instead I felt he came across as an ambitious, driven and confident person who knew what he wanted and set out to achieve it. His writing was still much in demand though and he still knocked out the occasional article for the likes of the Times.Being told that when you know you’ve got no control over yourself was a real wake-up moment,” he says. Reading it is a bit like being strapped into the passenger seat of a speeding sports car – you can feel the G-force of that decade’s optimism and indulgence, and there isn’t always much time for reflection along the way. It's an inspiring read of a working-class boy who did really well and lived by the motto that anything was possible. I’ve never brushed shoulders with royalty and I’d prefer it if the Royal Family invested a lot of their wealth in helping our schools and health service, so no, I don’t think my political outlook has changed since I was down the front of the Redskins or New Town Neurotics at the Hull Trades and Labour club.