Jay Blades

I love the Repair Shop, it reminds me of pottering around the workshop with my dad in my youth, taking treasured items that people want made good and watching him do it, while occasionally doing the research to help. Jay Blades comes across as a very affable man who is a very good foreman for the job and liked by those who work with him and he comes across as a warm interesting person in the book.
He and I are the same age so some cultural touchstones are the same but we had such different show more lives.
He's dyslexic and he didn't get any help in school, actually his schooling seemed designed to create an angry youth. He was bullied and beaten up for his race and his background; he's a man from a single parent background and while she did what she could there's only so much she could at the time.He came out with his fists up and no academic qualifications, and honestly his teachers seemed to be phoning it in. Various coincidences put him in places to learn to to interact with others and how to be a better person step by step, often from nothing at all. He admits to his own parenting and relationship issues but he keeps trying to be better and to uplift others, particularly kids that look like they're going to be where he was as an angry young man.
He didn't find out that he was dyslexic until he was in his 30s while studying Criminology and Philosophy and he's made friends along the way that help him be him and one of the people he's made friends with has been himself. He admits that he now has friends who can see when he's struggling and will help him realise it and find the help he needs.
I found the read interesting, Jay has found family in a lot of places and he seems to be trying to ensure that people around him find theirs. He also isn't very self-pitying and maybe a little judgemental to himself but overall he comes across as a good person, astounded that he's an MBE and happy with himself. show less

Fascinating story of how the author overcame a very difficult childhood with an absent father, went off the rails, but found his true vocation helping others, especially those who faced similar challenges. A no holds barred account of the highs and lows the author has faced and overcome to become the face of one of our most loved tv shows, The Repair Shop.