Three photos courtesy of Paul Rainey show officers at the time of the miners strike. Please note the tunics and blue shirts which were still being worn and the public order kit which was not as advanced as today. ‘Birmingham’s Front Line’ which refers to biographical accounts of

policing between 1976 to 1989 contains some recollections about officers deployed to the strike from the West Midlands. Move the clock forward to 1989 to 1997 when ‘The Noble Cause’ articulates the authors experiences of working in the police in Birmingham and Walsall.

I (Steve) am about to start putting together and proofreading our next ‘little’ book, provisionally entitled ‘It’s A Blag’. This is a book of pranks and funny stories involving Police Officers – (who do have a sense of humour – often dark though). To any of my ‘Job’ friends and colleagues who have some stories and would be willing to send them in, I would be really grateful. No matter how short or how rushed – I will sort them out and write them up. Please send to hibostinbooks@gmail.com by the end of the year. A little something you could do when you are bored after Christmas…..You will get a mention in the book and I promise the guilty will remain anonymous and the stories will be both printable and sanitised by the time they reach the page! I know there are more good ones out there and it would be a shame if they were lost forever. We are particularly light on OSU stuff – and those who were in that illustrious brigade will know what I’m talking about! Steve

In the 1970s uniform police officers routinely wore tunics and male officers wore helmets, or flat caps if they were driving. Woe betide any officer found walking around the streets without a hat on! Whistles were worn on a chain looped into the top pocket of the tunic and a truncheon rested in a hidden pocket in the right leg of the trousers. CID officers wore suits (slightly flared trousers) and ‘sideboards’ were a common sight. How things have changed as police forces have tried to adapt to new challenges.

Between 1997 and 2003 Mike and Steve worked at different times on the H2 Operational Command Unit which covered half of the geographical area of the Borough of Walsall. The police officers and staff who performed their duties on this area worked at four police stations namely Bloxwich, Brownhills,Darlaston and Willenhall serving local communities. The photographs shown are of the original four stations all of which had front-office counters and were open to the public. All that has now changed significantly with far less public access due to reduced staffing levels, the need to close down many local stations due to funding, and changes in technology. ‘Walsall’s Front Line – Volumes I and II’ provide

a factual history of policing in this area between 1997 and 1999. There is a little funny story about a senior officer who presented himself at the counter of Brownhills Police Station many years ago and demanded access. When the office-man queried who he was the senior officer became agitated stating, “I am the new Assistant Chief Constable with Staffordshire Police.” The officer looked at him less than impressed and said, “How do you do. I am a PC in the West Midlands Police. You are in the wrong Force area.”

Cyprus is a beautiful island in the Mediterranean which looks east and west from its pivotal location. Sunshine, beautiful beaches and amazing scenery yet beneath the surface has lurked a problem over the years which has troubled the vast majority of Cypriots who love the ‘beautiful’ game – that of football violence. This book explores the history of violent confrontations between a minority of ‘supporters’ from a relatively small number of high-profile clubs, as well as the links to politics. An insight into a problem which has been more familiar to the streets of the UK and how the Republic of Cyprus police and Government have tried to curtail it.

All of us are familiar with the concept of ‘business cards’ but at the height of violence perpetrated by gangs of ‘organized’ football hooligans in the 70s and 80s the concept took a sinister twist when gangs created their very own ‘calling cards’ which were often left at the scene of violent confrontations with opposing gangs. There were even versions with a peel-off sticky back that could be stuck on victims who had been attacked. One of the favoured weapons in the 80s was the stanley-knife which left deep and very painful injuries. Both authors have been involved in football policing over the years and some of our books reflect those experiences. In fiction terms ‘Keep Right On’ deals with two fictitious gangs affiliated to Birmingham City and Aston Villa in 1976 whilst ‘Hunting The Hooligans’ recounts the true story of a police operation to tackle Birmingham City’s notorious ‘Zulu Warriors’ in 1987. Some copies of ‘calling cards’ are attached.

Ok, it was just in Evesham, although it does keep selling out on Amazon. Steve did a signing today at Evesham W H Smith and sold all 15 copies they had. Here are a few happy customers….The book is really going well. Don’t think we will be doing anymore signings before Xmas but if you wanted a signed copy suitably inscribed as a gift Steve has just a few left in our personal stock that he would be willing to post to you. You’d have to be quick though due to Xmas post and personal commitments, in reality let me know by Wednesday.

We don’t normally do direct supply so it would have to be payment by bank transfer. Cost would be £14.95 plus £2 P&P in UK, £16.95 total. If you are interested e mail Steve on hibostinbooks@gmail.com.

Steve will be signing copies of Top Secret Worcestershire at WHSmith, 4 Bridge St, Evesham WR11 4SQ between 10am and 1pm on Saturday 8th – this Saturday. Hope to see you there!

Thanks for reading this. We are independent authors and publishers, ‘indie publishers’. This means that we do not have a major publisher or agent and their huge marketing budgets behind us. We have to create and do everything ourselves. The writing, the proofreading, the covers, the publishing and the marketing. This is incredibly difficult in a competitive marketplace which is to a large extent ‘sewn up’ by publishers, book chains and agents.

So the only way we can get your support and endorsement in a way that makes a real difference to the success or otherwise of our books is by you taking a couple of minutes to write a review on the Amazon.co.uk page of the book. Reviews have an impact upon how the Amazon computer ranks and markets books and a huge impact upon whether potential customers buy them or not.

There are many, many, thousands of fake reviews out there. In fact there is a whole hidden industry ‘selling’ fake book reviews. We will never ever do this, our books stand or fall on their merits, but it does make for a very unfair field of play. Amazon have been recently cracking down on fake reviews by means of checking whether you are a genuine Amazon customer. (have you spent £40 on Amazon in the last 12 months). This is a very clumsy tool which has punished good and bad, but at least they are trying.

So, if you felt able to do a review on a book you have read, we, and other authors, would be so very grateful. It’s easy to do. Find the book’s page on Amazon.co.uk, (make sure it’s this Amazon site), scroll right down and you will see a button marked ‘leave a customer review’. Press it and away you go.

We are grateful to you for reading to the end of this post and hope you can help us..

Steve & Mike

We now have a website! We would love you to check out bostinbooks.co.uk, have a look around, let us know of any suggestions for improvements, or about anything that doesn’t work via the ‘contact us’ or ‘comment’ sections. If you could ‘like’ and ‘follow’ us too that would be very much appreciated. I’m new to building websites so I need some nice people to start engaging so I can see how it all fits together and fix any problems. Regards Steve