Paul Morley grew up in Reddish, less than five miles from Manchester & even closer to Stockport. Ever since the age of seven Morley has always thought of himself as a northerner. What that meant, he wasn`t entirely sure. It was for him, as it is for millions of others in Engl&, an absolute, indisputable truth. Forty years after walking down grey pavements on his way to school, Paul explores what it means to be northern & why those who consider themselves to be believe it so strongly. Like industrial towns dotted across great green landscapes of hills & valleys, Morley breaks up his own history with fragments of his region`s own social & cultural background. Stories of his Dad spreading margarine on Weetabix stand alongside those about northern England`s first fish & chip shop in Mossley, near Oldham. Ambitiously sweeping & beautifully impressionistic, without ever losing touch with the minute details of life above the M25, The North is an extraordinary mixture of memoir & history, a unique insight into how we, as a nation, classify the unclassifiable.