Don't Worry, Be Happy
From the Official Press Release
This is a book that will appeal to armchair travellers and seasoned backpackers alike. It’ll suit anyone looking for a travel book that doesn’t take itself too seriously.
In 1989, just six months after Michael Palin’s Around the World in 80 Days was first broadcast on the BBC, a green and impressionable 25-year-old set off on his own life-enhancing trip to the East – an 18-month jaunt that would ultimately take him through China, Australasia and India.
From braving the streets of Beijing on a bicycle to witnessing a dog’s throat being slit in a Guangzhou market, from the thrills of drug infused dance parties on the moonlit, palm fringed beached of Goa, to treading a path through the devastating slums of Calcutta, there’s seemingly never a dull moment on this roller coaster trip.
Reconstructed from a series of Dictaphone recordings made at the time, Jim Ford has been able to chronicle all his highs and lows in candid, comical and often toe-curling detail. The end result is a light-hearted, perceptive and thoroughly engaging account of what life is really like on the road for the lone and – in this case – somewhat unconventional backpacker.
From the Publisher’s Website
Ever since Jeremy Thompson first agreed to publish my work a few months ago, I’ve been having a recurring nightmare. I say ‘nightmare’ because it always involves me nervously sitting in the Oneword Radio studio opposite the terrifically enthusiastic Paul Blezard who as he proceeds to interview me for an episode of Between the Lines starts to turn - Jekyll and Hyde-like - into an uncompromising version of Jeremy Paxman. The conversation invariably starts something like this:
‘So, Jim, Don’t Worry Be Happy – not exactly the conventional kind of travel book. Perhaps you would like to begin by describing in a couple of sentences, firstly what it’s about and then define your target reader?’
‘Blimey, lets see now. I’d say Don’t Worry Be Happy is a light-hearted if somewhat irreverent account of a series of travels I made fifteen years ago when I was a green and impressionable 25-year-old, and I guess is aimed primarily at the younger generation, a sort of Bill Bryson for backpackers for want of better words, although obviously not written with the same finesse.’
‘I see. And would you like to elaborate just a little?’
‘Well, divided into three parts – China, Australasia and India – the narrative focuses just as much on my inhibitions, shortcomings, insecurities and frustrations of travelling alone (all of course exaggerated for comic effect) as it does the places I pass through, so a self-deprecating tone prevails throughout. That said its not all mirth, for every now and then the account is tinged with moments of poignancy: visiting Tiananmen Square just months after the tanks were sent in, the shocking and humbling poverty of Calcutta and the tragic assassination of Rajiv Gandhi just days before I returned. It doesn’t shirk away from sensitive issues either: the perils of hallucinogens, the discrimination of Aborigines in Australia, as well as a particularly resonant passage on the respective religions of India where I’m forced to question my own prejudices of Islam.’
‘So, given that you made this trip so long ago, I have to ask just how on earth you gathered all the material for it?’
‘From a series of Dictaphone recordings I made at the time.’
‘Dictaphone recordings?’
‘Yes, I wanted to keep a suitable memento of the trip, but didn’t suspect I’d have the discipline to maintain a diary, so I made a series of tape recordings instead.’
‘I see. And what do you think makes it different from all the other hundreds of accounts of backpacking trips regularly posted on the Internet?’
‘Well, with the help of Alan Wilkinson at the Literary Council, I’ve been working tirelessly on the manuscript for the last four and a half years, doing all I can to try to turn it around from the usual I went here, I did this, I did that kind of travelogue into something a little less linear and hopefully more imaginative.’
‘Right. And how do you mean exactly?’
‘Well, take for example the numerous threads running through the book: my endless fascination with the Japanese, the frequent references to television programmes of the era – Dr.Who, Fawlty Towers, Scooby Doo, to name but a few – the affinity I develop for the writings of Maugham, the obsessive almost paranoid fear I have of contracting dysentery, not to mention my mounting suspicions that the Finns just may be the craziest people on the planet.’
‘And you obviously think there’s still a gap in the travel writing market for a book of this sort?’
‘Oh god, yes. In fact, I passionately believe, as I have done from the outset, that a huge gap exists in this field. The majority of travel books, it seems to me, are invariably written by scholars or academics following in the footsteps of some famous or intrepid explorer or other, and consequently tend to be written in a style that goes above the heads of young people. By this I mean they often delve too much into the history of places, which based on personal experience, quickly loses the interest of many readers. Bill Bryson to a certain extent had bridged this gap with his unrivalled injection of humour but because he’s that much older, I feel he doesn’t always gain the total respect of the younger reader. I am sure this is part of the reason why Alex Garland achieved so much success with his novel The Beach. This was clearly a book written in a style that young people could easily relate to and by no coincidence, its subject happened to be the relatively new phenomenon of backpacking. I can only assume that many publishers aren't even aware of this because there appear to be very few books around that cater for this market, just as there weren't books written by young female writers twenty years ago that were targeted specifically at the so-called chic-lit market. There have, I hasten to add, been a few exceptions; Michael Palin, Peter Moore, Alec Le Sueur and notably William Sutcliffe with his excellent Are You Experienced all quickly spring to mind. But I firmly believe there still remains a huge chasm and I sincerely hope Don’t Worry Be Happy can go some way to fill this void.’
‘My, you sound pretty confident. Would I be right therefore in assuming that you think your book will be a resounding success?’
‘Well, no, on the contrary. It won’t win any prizes, it won’t make the bestsellers lists, it probably won’t even make the bookshops but it might just make you chuckle.’
‘Oh come on, you’re surely not going to pull the wool over my eyes that easily. Having worked on the manuscript for so long, you must be over the moon that it’s finally going to make it into print.’
‘Yes, Jeremy, sorry, I mean yes Paul, of course I am. But I’m also terrified at the same time.’
‘Terrified?’
‘Why, yes. I’d imagine every aspiring writer secretly hopes they’ll become the next JK Rowling, so not knowing how your labour of love will eventually be received is torture. In this respect, I guess you just have to try to believe in your dreams.’
‘Your dreams? Hmm. Well, enough of this idle small talk; perhaps you’d like to read us the first extract then, Jim.’
It’s nearly always around this point that I feel a sharp nudge in the ribs from my beloved and am told in no uncertain terms that if I don’t stop babbling in my sleep, I’ll be banished to the spare room.
(Don’t Worry Be Happy is due to be published in June 2006.)