A life on the open road

This book is the autobiography of James Mateer who was born in 1926 into a family of travelling music hall entertainers. His father was manager of the Broadway Players, a troupe of entertainers who toured the small rural towns of N Ireland, bringing music, drama and comedy to the countryfolk in the days before cinema or radio - the mass media which would eventually drive out the travelling players. Mateer, who also wrote short stories and radio plays, brings characters and scenes from those bygone days vividly to life and does so with a convincing realism. He died in August 2011.