About Me — David Acaster
From Bombsites to Rock and Roll
I live in a small English seaside town a few minutes walk from the beach, in an area many describe as ‘the back of beyond’. It suits me now, the relative quiet and easy pace of life, whereas at one time I much preferred the hustle and bustle of city life.
I was born in the 1950s in a city which, during World War II, was the second most bombed in the UK after London, with 95% housing damage. Of course, I wasn’t alive for that, but as a child I did play among the bomb sites, while in the next street workmen were busy rebuilding the urban landscape. Even though it was austerity Britain, with rationing finally ending when I was four years old, things were beginning to look up.
My parents, having been through the hardship of six years of war, were ‘make do and mend’ people. I had those traits ingrained in me so much, I continue to make lost causes last as long as possible before discarding or replacing them.
I grew up in an era where a British Prime Minister said we’d ‘never had it so good’, painting an over-rosy picture about the country’s economy in post-war Britain. The only economy I was interested in was my weekly pocket money.
I saved those few coins to buy records, initially British skiffle and Folk music. Then Elvis came along and everything…
