The novels are not consciously auto-biographical. But they certainly gave me a way of writing about a region I knew intimately, for I was born on the Durham coalfield in 1947 and grew up in the mining village of Fencehouses. Also, like Bob Henderson, I am an academic, having worked in universities for over thirty years, the last few of them as Professor of Politics in the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Therefore, and unlike Bob, I am not a professional philosopher, although I do have a strong interest in philosophical ideas.
My father worked as an overman in Lambton colliery and was a fanatical supporter of Sunderland Football Club, a pastime to which he introduced me aged eight. This means that I have been suffering from red-and-white eyeballs for fifty-two years. It also means, I suppose, that I am a ‘Mackem’ – although that word was unknown during all the years I was standing in the Roker End of Roker Park.
This was taken directly from Gavin’s website check it out
The MACEM comment is of interest I left Fence Houses in 1973 and never heard the expression until about 2003, when I was called one and had to ask what it was.
Back when I lived at 15 Raby Close we were all just Geordies, mind you if you said you were going to town my 50% of Fence Houses were referring to Newcastle, the other 50% were referring to Sunderland.