NHOJ
A Memoir That Started Backwards
With an eye for peculiar detail and meticulous research, John Lazenby takes us on an evocative visit to the Britain of the 1960s, when, aged nine, he saw the Beatles play live in London before he could even hope to read, or write down, the lyrics from their iconic songbook.
Along the way, we meet the warm and eccentric family who never gave up on him – and the array of severe teachers and tutors who did. We are reminded that it takes only one person to change a life for the better and, having been sent away to boarding school at the age of seven, John’s young life pivoted on the miracle discovery of that person, a teacher who finally understood the boy that no one else could teach.
NHOJ: A Memoir That Started Backwards is the story of his progress from seven-year-old who could write only one word – his own name, spelt backwards – to journalist and author who built a career around the very words that had initially been so elusive.
John Lazenby has more than forty years’ experience as a journalist, including more than 25 years as a writer and editor for national newspapers. He is the author of Test of Time: Travels in Search of a Cricketing Legend, The Strangers Who Came Home: The First Australian Cricket Tour of England and Edging Towards Darkness: The Story of the Last Timeless Test, which were shortlisted for a range of awards.
