Stuart Maconie - Writing Career

Writing Career

In his career as a writer and journalist he has written for Q, Word Magazine, Elle, The Times, The Guardian, the Evening Standard, Daily Express, Select, Mojo, Country Walking, Deluxe and was an assistant editor for the NME. In September 2008, he began a new monthly column for Cumbria Life magazine. Maconie previously worked as an English and sociology teacher at Skelmersdale College, Lancashire for one year in 1987–88. He has written screenplays for television and films. He is also the author of Cider With Roadies, an autobiography of his experiences as a music journalist. Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North, a humorous book that discusses the modern reality of the North of England (as opposed to the popular myths), was published in February 2007, with an audio version following in March 2009. Maconie, himself a 'northerner', uses his own childhood experiences alongside anecdotes from recent visits to illuminate the book. A third book, Adventures on the High Teas: In Search of Middle England was published in March 2009. Maconie's March 2012 book, 'Never Mind the Quantocks', is a collection of more than 50 humorous essays from his monthly column at Country Walking Magazine.

Maconie also is credited with starting two urban legends; that Bob Holness, UK host of the game show Blockbusters, played the sax solo on Gerry Rafferty's hit single "Baker Street" and that David Bowie invented the board game Connect 4. The stories first appeared as blatant jokes in a spoof NME 'Believe It or Not' feature, but have since been repeated elsewhere as if true. He also claims to have coined the well used phrase Britpop in the 1990s. "I'm sure someone must have used the expression before me about the Hollies, or the Beatles, back in the '60s. But I was the first person to use it about bands like Oasis and Blur".