‘Now then Gadgie’ reviews

Last Updated on February 18, 2023

Early in 2010 we (meaning Corndog Publishing) published an anthology of one of our favourite zines ‘Now then Gadgie’. This anthology has been very well received, and here are some of the reviews.

Click here to buy ‘Now then Gadgie’ direct from Corndog Publishing…

Mass Movement Zine
Highly amusing collection of anecdotes and autobiographical accounts from self confessed football loving punk and creator of ‘Gadgie’ zine. Chronicling Marv’s formative years in the 80s, touching on all the usual cultural references from that decade (Grange Hill, ZX Spectrums, The ‘punk’ episode of Quincy, The Young Ones, Fred Perry shirts and V neck jumpers and curly perms), through his forays into Europe, dislike of AC/DC, experiencing the worst toilet in the world (next to the harbour in Boston, Lincs in case you are wondering) and of course numerous tales of Footie matches and culture; I found Gadgie’s barbed comments regarding glory chasing premiership fans who support teams totally unconnected with their hometown particularly entertaining and just. If this sounds like an enjoyable read to you then seek professional help. But seriously folks this is an enjoyable stroll down memory lane for anyone over the age of 30 and an entertaining glimpse into the life of Gadgie. Ian Pickens

Suspect Device Zine
“Dear Jim, could you fix it for me to read a book by one of my favourite fanzine writers?”
What we have here is a book by everyone’s favourite PE teacher, Marv Gadgie; I think I’m right in saying that this is a collection of Marv’s written work that have appeared in his own zine, Gadgie, as well as other zines. It’s almost an autobiography in that the book starts with tails of the young Marv’s childhood misdemeanours, and follows him as he grows up to become the respectable member of society he is now, or something like that. As you might expect by now, this is full of funny anecdotes and all written in Marv’s inimitable style; his use of childish, and local slang made me fondly remember the colloquialisms that we used where I grew up, and although I was much less of a tearaway than Marv seems to have been in his early years, some of his experiences are very similar to my own. Even the pieces I remember reading before still thrilled me, and made me laugh out loud; you don’t need to know Marv to enjoy this book, but I do know Marv and I think you get a real sense of who he is from reading this. I guess the mark of a good book, and a good writer is if you get inspired to write yourself, and this made me want to write the way Dan O’Mahony’s books did several years ago. Wonderful stuff.
Oh, and I did get a Jim’ll Fix It badge too!
(Tony)

Broken Pencil Website Now Then Gadgie breaks the zine anthology mould By Luke You
‘Gadgie’ is a classic UK zine put out by Marv Gadgie from the town of Boston in Lincolnshire, UK. I have been aware of the zine since the turn of the century and the sight of a new issue in my PO Box always brings a smile to my face. The wonderful Andrew Culture and Corndog Publishing/zine distro in the UK have put out a book, a zine anthology dedicated to the wonderful world of ‘Gadgie’. The unusual thing about the anthology is that the zine ‘Gadgie’ is usually 95% dedicated to brutal hardcore, brutal hardcore record reviews, brutal hardcore show reviews, brutal hardcore zine reviews, but the zine anthology is made up only of the other 5% of the zine content. This 5% of the zine takes the form of Marv reminising about growing up in the north of England in the 1980’s and the mind blowingly outrageous adventures that the eight year old yet-to-be zine-maker got up to. It is a surprising approach to a zine anthology and one which makes a successful transition from zine to book. You can get a copy of the book from the Corndog website and check out a stack of other fine UK zines while you are there
https://www.corndog.co.uk/zine-distro/
Buried Alive Website
Long running master of the humorous anecdote, Marv ‘Gadgie’, has finally put together his work into book format. What follows is endless short tales of the trouble Marv has landed himself in over the years, written in such a down to earth, genuine tone, it feels like I’m sat in the pub with him. Well influential in the likes of UK personal zines, Gadgie is the one to start with, with this book being the perfect way to make up for any original issues of the zine you might have missed out on.
Not to mention the free Jim’ll fix it keyring I got with it, can’t go wrong!

Mild Peril Zine
Yep, Gadgie of Gadgie zine fame (strange that) has just released a collection of his best columns all in one lovely book that the superb Corndog has put out. Now Gadgie is well known in zine circles for writing some of the most hilarious tales of his life, the collection here literally made me laugh harder than I have done for a long, long time. You get a total of 150 pages, mainly anecdotes from his childhood, punk rock, travelling and playing in non league football teams. My personal favourite ones were from his childhood though, getting in to mischief and generally doing what boys will do. It’s the way he words things which gets me though, regular Gadgie readers know what I’m on about, those who haven’t read anything Gadgie based before, do so asap.
On t’ Road Zine
It is finally here, the long awaited book from popular zine writer Marv Gadgie. This is essentially an edited compilation of all of Marv’s best work over the years (taken from Gadgie fanzine) covering four decades and spread over 150 pages. It is full of hilarious anecdotes from Marv’s youth and recent times in Boston. Fans and non-fans of
Gadgie should definitely pick this up – go on son, he’s a good writer and it’s ony a fiver. Highly recommended.

Click here to buy ‘Now then Gadgie’ direct from Corndog Publishing…