Making It: How Love, Kindness and Community Helped Me Repair My Life

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never2oldfurniture echoed the sentiment, commenting: "I'm on it, can't wait. I loved the last book". We had our hardships, and there were times that we didn't have a lot of food and didn't have a lot of money. But that didn't stop me having the time of my life. a b c d e f g h i j k l Saner, Emine (7 September 2020). " 'I spent a long time being this macho man': Jay Blades on love, loss and the liberating power of tears". The Guardian . Retrieved 26 December 2020. In June 2023, Blades presented Jay Blades' East End Through Time; a three-part documentary series shown on Channel 5, [24] which was followed by The Midlands Through Time in October. [25] Personal life [ edit ] Birthday Honours 2021: MBE for Repair Shop's Jay Blades". BBC News. 11 June 2021 . Retrieved 12 June 2021.

Books — Jay Blades

Against the odds, though, he took these circumstances to grow and create change within the communities he worked and cared for. THOUGHTS: Read this book slowly. Take the time to truly assimilate the personal journey of the phenomenal flawed human being who presents and carries the TV sensation" The Repair Shop" on his shoulder. I admit to being a trifle skeptical about the content, I suspect that an autobiography doesn't have to be quite as strict with the truth as a fully-cited biography does. However, I do think that that bones of this story are true and it's worth noting that Mr Blades pulls no punches when it comes to explicitly detailing what society might be inclined to call his "failings of character". I liked very much that he calls out what he sees as failings in others and himself, although I do feel he was a little lax in applying the same standards to himself that he'd like to see in others, most specifically his father comes in for a pretty heavy lambasting throughout the book for his absence, deservedly so, but Jay has essentially repeated the "crimes" he so vehemently decries and although he's somewhat salving the wounds with money, the outcomes of some of his children's life indicate that there's potentially some element of Jay's absenteeism that could explain where they're at. That said, as he states in the book, " You can't live your kids' lives for them", he's done what he can, with who he is and even if he contributed to some of the problems, at least he's still trying to do something about contributing to the solution as well.a b c Robertson, Dominic (10 August 2021). "Jay Blades: Why I have taken on challenge of reading at 51". Shropshire Star. p.8. Whitfield, Tony (25 September 2022). "Jay Blades says Repair Shop fixed him after his difficult childhood". Daily Express.

Making It: How Love, Kindness and Community Helped Me Repair

Murphy, Nichola (26 September 2022). "The Repair Shop's Jay Blades 'wasn't ready' to be a father". HELLO!. Daly, Charlotte (27 October 2022). "Social media goes wild for King Charles III's presenting skills on The Repair Shop". Country Living. He has also appeared on Would I Lie to You?, Celebrity Masterchef, Richard Osman's House of Games, Michael McIntyre's The Wheel, and The Graham Norton Show. [16] [17] a b "The Repair Shop's Jay Blades reveals incredible story discovering he has 25 siblings". MSN. Archived from the original on 13 July 2020 . Retrieved 12 July 2020. Jay always has such a kind, sympathetic and insightful manner when talking to people on TV, when I saw his autobiography I didn’t hesitate in buying it. I wasn’t disappointed and could hardly put it down.He appears to be highly thought of in the UK (he has been awarded an MBE) yet his book highlights a propensity to begin things with great enthusiasm, only to move on to something else some time later. This is true of his schemes to help disadvantaged youth, of which three are described in detail (Mr. Blades is now only involved in the third one, but more distantly as his TV work increases and takes up more of his time). It also applies to his relationships, yet he expresses no regrets or remorse for successive failures and break-ups. Jay has certainly had a colourful life, and it was a roller coaster reading through the highs and lows. At times I liked him, his passion and compassion, his drive and determination earned my respect, and then at times I couldn't understand his choices and wanted to shake him. Either way, I was totally invested in his life. It was an engaging and compelling memoir. WHAT an amazing honest and interesting book! Only having seen Jay on TV it’s such a revelation to read his life story. I have huge respect for him after reading about his successes, failures and how he’s persevered through it all to arrive at the place he’s now at. This is a brilliant book! I’ve been a fan of Jay’s for years as an avid viewer of The Repair Shop, but I didn’t really know anything at all about the Jay underneath the flat cap!

Jay Blades announces his new book Life Lessons - Prima Jay Blades announces his new book Life Lessons - Prima

All in all, I think you get a very interesting insight into the actual human that is Jay Blades, not the TV persona, not a public persona, the real deal. I think it's a little light on self-recrimination, but, as someone said, " Everyone is necessarily the hero of [their] own life story." and I do think that the book indicates that he's trying to live by the credo that he closes the book out with: " all you can do is be good".The Repair Shop's Jay Blades marries Lisa-Marie Zbozen in Barbados ceremony". Digital Spy. 5 December 2022. I have a major question, however, viz. how, given that undiagnosed dyslexia had left him more or less unable to read or write, he was accepted into university to study Philosophy and Criminology. Surely he should have acquired adequate reading skills first? In September 2022 Blades appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs and said that his childhood had been "blighted by racism and violence". [18] [19] In October 2022 Blades was the lead presenter for the edition of The Repair Shop which featured King Charles III. [20] [21]

Making It by Jay Blades | Waterstones

Written in a completely unpretentious way, Jay's honesty shines through even to the point of referring to using a ghost writer (who has done an excellent job) - what would you expect for someone with significant dyslexia? It's not a long read, it lasted me a day however it is fairly unputdownable. Finding success when the odds for it to happen are against someone shows the true character, courage, and vulnerability needed to make it happen.

Using a system developed for use in prisons by the Shannon Trust, Jay commits to learn to read with Read Easy, a charity whose volunteers do one-to-one coaching. Along the way, he revisits key moments in his life that were shaped by not being able to read: the ‘learner’ class at school, the dead-end jobs he had to take because he had no qualifications, and not being able to read his children bedtime stories. Daughter Zola is now 15, and Jay wants to read her a story before she reaches adulthood on her next birthday. Youngs, Ian (1 April 2020). "From repairing lives to hosting The Repair Shop". BBC News . Retrieved 29 June 2020. The book covers the period from Blades' birth (in 1970) right through to the publishing date in 2021 (thus just missing his MBE). It ranges through an estate-bound but happy childhood and his initial run-in with racism when he enters secondary schooling, on to a troubled and violent adolescence that acts as a prelude to a most remarkable emotional rollercoaster of a life. It's not a long book, but I still zipped through it pretty fast because the chapters kept ending in cliffhangers (i was still reading at 01:30, 02:00 on consecutive nights)! We had our hardships, and there were times that we didn’t have a lot of food and didn’t have a lot of money. But that didn’t stop me having the time of my life. Blades lives in Ironbridge in Shropshire. [11] He has three children. His youngest, a daughter, is from his first marriage and he has two sons from previous relationships. Blades married his second wife Lisa Zbozen in Barbados in November 2022. [26] [6] [9] [27] [28] Honours [ edit ]