If you remember Cliff Saunders, Mike Hobbs, Dorianne Berry, Carole Charlewood, Glenda Kemp, Min Shaw, Springbok Radio, the Stockley Sisters, Luyt Lager, Trust Bank, Darling magazine, Wielie Walie, Clive Weil’s "twolly for twolly", Grensvegter or the SABC test pattern... you grew up in South Africa in the 1970s. Pat Hopkins is fascinated by eccentricity and is a collector of Boerekitsch. He is a history and political science graduate from the University of Natal, and an award-winning writer, travel journalist and author of more than a dozen books. He lives in Johannesburg with his wife and two daughters. His latest book will have you laughing and saying "remember this?" Cringe, the Beloved Country is a hilarious celebration of those whacky days and more. Covering fashion, politics, morality, entertainment and more, it unearths people and events that will haunt you with delightful embarrassment. The book will take you back to Jani Allan’s liaison with Eugene Terre’Blanche; macramé and rope cornices; mullets and miniskirts; Whites Only signs and the Immorality Act; PW Botha’s wagging finger; the private lives of Piet Koornhof and Allan Boesak; stripper Glenda Kemp and her python; Scope magazine and nipple stars; local TV, radio and pop music; Clive Weil’s Checkers adverts; Zola Budd and even the programme schedule of South Africa’s first-ever TV broadcast on 05 January 1976. The Top 30 of local pop songs, the funniest newspaper headlines and graffiti, Van der Merwe jokes, and a dictionary of South African slang. Throughout the book are quotes from politicians and celebrities, news reports and gossip columns, dredging up things that you’ve probably tried to forget, and which you’ll remember with tears of laughter.
