Top of the Sixties

David Ayres

Stories about growing up, fighting your parents, discovering love and finding your feet in life.

Sample Passages A Sack of Spuds Alastair’s Triumph Awakening

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Summary

Top of the Sixties written by David Ayres celebrates the delightful world with the firm belief in progress, new youth culture and boundless optimism, things that define the 1960s.

In fourteen stories David re-creates a world that has been lost, when people, especially the young, felt so cutting edge, but looking back they actually turn out to be rather naive.

In A Sack of Spuds we meet fruit and veg man Mr Davies doing his rounds through the neighbourhoods and his young helper Keith, a typical teenager. Cherry, The Latin Girl, with a bob that is very Cilla Black, gives Glyn his first taste of love and Awakening is a touching tale about growing up.

Well, we all know a Drama Queen of course, find out what this one is up to. ‘Who are you?’ sang The Who and this is what Alastair, an unassuming teacher at Four Beeches Comprehensive School, is about to discover, but will he triumph?

‘Raymond wasn’t bored. He was never bored, it was just that sometimes he couldn’t find anything to do.’ Until he meets a Romany. Baz, it’s Barry actually but don’t tell anyone, and crispy bacon don’t see eye to eye but you will have to read the story to get to the bottom of it.

Keith is still working for the fruit and veg man and they are nearing the Farm Stop, though Keith is baffled why they stop at all, Mrs Roddick never buys a thing. In the next story Leon finds Something for the Weekend as he tries to impress a certain person with the ‘Aftermath’, the newly released LP by The Rolling Stones.

Neil is a Mod, whereas John feels he is some sort of Rocker but what changes on their way to Wetton Mill? We all know what happened to the people who stayed in the band that became famous but what will be Fret’s destiny after making a decision between staying in the band or opting for the day job?

Ah, a teenager’s bedroom! ‘At fifteen David knew absolutely everything there was to know about absolutely everything (He knew all the words to ‘Bachelor Boy’)’ but what happens when his parents announce that he is about to be taken Out of the Box?

Uncle Joe was James’s hero, he was a Special Constable after all, plus he wore a cravat at his open neck, like one of his dashing heroes, Tony Britton. James is desperate to impress Uncle Joe yet it is Joe who unwittingly teaches James an important lesson.

It ends with A Gift of Lilies. Keith is now a tall young man with shoulder-length hair, wearing an Afghan coat. When, by chance, he meets Mr Davies again it makes Keith smile at his own naivety and look at Mr Davies with a new kind of recognition.

Fourteen stories about growing up in the 1960s:


You can read them all in one go to get the full picture of life in a small, tightly-knit working-class town in the Midlands during the 1960s. Yet each story can just as well be read on its own, perfect, for example, to fill the time on your daily commute.

Related blog: Short stories and why I write them

David Ayres will appear at one of Burntwood Library's coffee mornings on Saturday 22 September (11am to 1pm) to talk about Top of the Sixties.

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ISBN: 978-1-907320-09-5
Number of pages: 165
Price: £10.99
  

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What was said about Top of the Sixties

‘Ayres's portrayals of the inhabitants of this Midlands backwater are often touching and sympathetic ... his dialogue is excellent’ - The Short Review

‘From beginning to end, David Ayres shows his remarkable talent for description. His openings evoke strong imagery, while his characters are full of life.’ - Zouch Magazine

The book brought back those school days and the teenage angst about how to look cool, part time jobs, full time jobs, dating and the minefield that went with it. Thanks for a great read and for bringing those memories back to life.’ - editor FuerteNews

‘Much of what Ayres has to say about youthful exuberance, teenage angst and finding ones place in the world are universal.’ 

‘I thought of Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own as I read of a boy surveying his room in ‘Out of the Box’.’ - Karenlee Thompson on her blog

‘I really enjoyed the stories – very atmospheric.’ - Catherine Best, editor

‘Top of the Sixties is an interestingly constructed book  and an easy read’

‘I did chuckle remembering the whole-life experience of getting a ‘Short back and sides’ in a local men-only barber’s shop, I could almost smell the Brylcreem!’ - David Elliot reviewing for Red Cap