Billy Holt
Posted by Glyn Hughes,
Saturday, May 31, 2003
Good to see the Todmorden novelist William Holt remembered on the Hebden Bridge site. His volumes of autobiography I Haven't Unpacked and I Still Haven't Unpacked are just about the best first-hand accounts I know of street and moorland life in the Calder Valley from 1900 onwards. As a glimpse into the inner life of that especially wonderful local type, the spirited autodidact, I know no equal to his books, either.
Posted by John Atack,
Wednesday, June 4, 2003
Thanks, Glyn, for the prompt.
I must catch up on the Holt literary offerings as soon as possible. I still suffer from maternal prejudice when it comes to picking up one of his works. This is the result of Trigger being sometimes hitched next to our house in Crown Street without her say so. As my mama came from Halifax she may be forgiven as Hebden is, if nothing, tolerant as she would acknowledge if she were with us today. So I'll break the habit and be my own man when I've finished the David Nobbs autobiography which I am told has evil comment on local beer.