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Alan Johnson

アラン・ジョンソン

Aran Jonson

Aliases: Alan Arthur Johnson

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1950-05-17 （London）
Nationality
United Kingdom
Languages
English
Residence History
London, England → East Riding of Yorkshire

Career

Occupations
Politician, Postman, Trade union official, Author
Active Years
1968-2024
Affiliations
Labour Party, Communication Workers Union, University of Hull
Memberships
Labour Party National Executive Committee
Influenced By
George Orwell

Education

Sloane Grammar School
General
Period: ~1965
Year of Graduation: 1965
Country: United Kingdom
Left school at age 15

Awards

Ondaatje Prize
2014
Work: This Boy
Organization: Royal Society of Literature
Result: winner
Orwell Prize
2014
Work: This Boy
Organization: Orwell Foundation
Result: winner
Specsavers National Book Awards
2014
Work: Please, Mister Postman
Category: Autobiography of the Year
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

This Boy: A Memoir of a Childhood

2013 Memoir

Memoir of a childhood in London's working-class poverty, orphaned young and raised by his sister.

PovertyFamilyWorking class

Please, Mister Postman

2014 Memoir

Memoir of his time as a postman and union representative.

LabourTrade unions1970s Britain

The Long and Winding Road

2016 Memoir

Memoir covering his political career in Parliament.

PoliticsLabour Party

In My Life: A Music Memoir

2018 Memoir

Memoir on his lifelong passion for music.

MusicThe Beatles

The Late Train to Gipsy Hill

2021 Novel

First novel in the Louise Mangan detective series.

MysteryEspionage

Bibliography

  • This Boy
  • Please, Mister Postman
  • The Long and Winding Road
  • In My Life
  • The Late Train to Gipsy Hill
  • One Of Our Ministers Is Missing
  • Death on the Thames
  • Harold Wilson

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Accessible and engaging styleConversational toneHumorous narrative
Recurring Motifs
Working-class lifeMusicPolitical reminiscence

Legacy

Former British Labour cabinet minister who achieved literary success with memoirs winning the Ondaatje Prize and Orwell Prize. Chancellor of the University of Hull.

In Popular Culture

  • Appeared as Pharaoh on The Masked Singer

Quotes

  • The whole cabinet believed the intelligence we were presented [with] and we made our case to the British people based on it in good faith. As we all now know, that intelligence was wholly wrong.
    Source: Statement on Iraq War (2007)

Trivia

  • Supporter of Queens Park Rangers F.C.
  • Titled memoirs after Beatles songs
  • Left school at 15 to work at Tesco
  • Played in pop bands as a youth