Colin Potter

A History of an Ordinary Man Colin Potter

Born in 1950 into Post War slum housing Colin Potter left school with no qualifications at the age of fifteen to become an apprentice plumber. In 1981 he suffers his first taste of unemployment due to redundancy and wants to understand why? Up to now his vision has been that of most people i.e. job, family and neighbourhood. His reading leads him to become the proverbial sponge and takes him into the spheres of social justice, politics and becoming a social activist. Whilst the author shows good humour throughout he believes that to understand an individual's life you have to understand the history in which they live.

He succeeds by adopting an insightful, critical and intelligent review of events which have occurred in his life. Such events include employment blacklisting, unemployment, family poverty, becoming a mature university student and a move to the Scottish Highlands before an eventual return to West Yorkshire. From a deeply personal and candid viewpoint the book also covers personal and family struggles with mental health, serious ill health and organ transplantation. From life as a leather clad Rocker/Teddy Boy to becoming a University Lecturer the book is at times a humorous, but serious insight into the history of an ordinary man.