Site last updated 13/8/22
Cover image: Travis Elborough
Cover image: Travis Elborough
DEFYING GRAVITY
New paperback edition
out now
"IF YOU'VE NEVER READ A BOOK ABOUT PUNK, THIS IS THE ONLY ONE YOU'LL EVER NEED"
– Julie Burchill, The New Statesman
The image of Jordan with her white shards of beehive and Mondrian make-up is one of the most iconic in pop cylture. From the counter of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's taboo-busting shop on 240 King's Road, she helped shape a revolution.
But who was the woman behind it all? How did a ballet-mad girl from sleepy Sussex make her way, via the clandestine gay clubs of Brighton and London, to the eye of punk's storm? What happened after all her hair-raising adventures with The Sex Pistols, Adam and The Ants, Derek Jarman and Andy Warhol when she just disappeared?
With commetary from key players and close friends including Vivienne Westwood, Paul Cook, Marco Pirroni, Holly Johnson, and her partner behind the SEX counter, Michael Collins – plus a wealth of never-before-seen images from Simon Barker, Sheila Rock and Harri Peccinotti and a specially commissioned cover by Graham Humphreys – Jordan reveals her outrageous life story. Buckle up for a masterclass in true punk spirit.
To order one, go HERE
Limited edition Slipcase and Boxed Set editions of Defying Gravity signed by Jordan are still available.
For the Slipcase edition, go HERE
For the Boxed Set, go HERE
See more of our previous adventures on our DEFYING GRAVITY page
– Julie Burchill, The New Statesman
The image of Jordan with her white shards of beehive and Mondrian make-up is one of the most iconic in pop cylture. From the counter of Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's taboo-busting shop on 240 King's Road, she helped shape a revolution.
But who was the woman behind it all? How did a ballet-mad girl from sleepy Sussex make her way, via the clandestine gay clubs of Brighton and London, to the eye of punk's storm? What happened after all her hair-raising adventures with The Sex Pistols, Adam and The Ants, Derek Jarman and Andy Warhol when she just disappeared?
With commetary from key players and close friends including Vivienne Westwood, Paul Cook, Marco Pirroni, Holly Johnson, and her partner behind the SEX counter, Michael Collins – plus a wealth of never-before-seen images from Simon Barker, Sheila Rock and Harri Peccinotti and a specially commissioned cover by Graham Humphreys – Jordan reveals her outrageous life story. Buckle up for a masterclass in true punk spirit.
To order one, go HERE
Limited edition Slipcase and Boxed Set editions of Defying Gravity signed by Jordan are still available.
For the Slipcase edition, go HERE
For the Boxed Set, go HERE
See more of our previous adventures on our DEFYING GRAVITY page
Punk and the Pistols
Jordan tribute screening
Dalston Rio cinema
13 September 2022
TUESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER
DALSTON RIO CINEMA, 6.30PM
FOR TICKETS GO HERE
Join us for a celebration of Jordan and the spirit of ’76 with a rare cinema screening of the definitive (and uncensored) BBC Arena documentary on the UK Punk scene, Punk and the Pistols – the only film to feature candid interviews with John Lydon, Malcolm McLaren and his former-partner in fashion crime Vivienne Westwood. Along, of course, with Jordan herself and a host of other punk luminaries including Glen Matlock, Poly Styrene and Siouxsie Sioux.
Hosted by Travis Elborough, special guests on the night will include Cathi, Bertie ‘Berlin’ Marshall, Richard Boon of Buzzcocks, New Hormones records and Stoke Newington Library fame and the filmmaker Paul Tickell.
Copies of Defying Gravity will be on sale and Cathi will be signing after the screening.
Aidan McManus (Soho Punk Tours and Flipside Radio) will be DJ-ing in the lobby.
Image: Graham Humphreys/Omnibus
DALSTON RIO CINEMA, 6.30PM
FOR TICKETS GO HERE
Join us for a celebration of Jordan and the spirit of ’76 with a rare cinema screening of the definitive (and uncensored) BBC Arena documentary on the UK Punk scene, Punk and the Pistols – the only film to feature candid interviews with John Lydon, Malcolm McLaren and his former-partner in fashion crime Vivienne Westwood. Along, of course, with Jordan herself and a host of other punk luminaries including Glen Matlock, Poly Styrene and Siouxsie Sioux.
Hosted by Travis Elborough, special guests on the night will include Cathi, Bertie ‘Berlin’ Marshall, Richard Boon of Buzzcocks, New Hormones records and Stoke Newington Library fame and the filmmaker Paul Tickell.
Copies of Defying Gravity will be on sale and Cathi will be signing after the screening.
Aidan McManus (Soho Punk Tours and Flipside Radio) will be DJ-ing in the lobby.
Image: Graham Humphreys/Omnibus
Cathi talks about Jordan to London in Bits
Cathi was very pleased to get the opportunity to talk about Jordan and Defying Gravity to London in Bits. This is a subscriber service, but you can follow the link, sign up for their weekly bulletin about all things London, and read the full interview HERE
BAD PENNY BLUES
New edition out now
London 1959: Police Constable Pete Bradley has done one year in the force and dreams of moving up. His destiny arrives when the body of a young woman is dumped on the banks of the Thames. She’s the first in a series of murders whose naked victims are left in and along the river. Pete’s search for the phantom killer will lead him deep into London’s underbelly as the 1960s start to swing.
Meanwhile Stella Reade, an art student living in bohemian Ladbroke Grove, is woken by terrifying nightmares that echo the last hours of the murdered women – all of whom have been plucked from the streets around her home. Streets where fascists and Teddy boys, migrants and anarchists chase illicit thrills with gangsters and lords.
Bad Penny Blues is based on the Thames Towpath case of 1959-65, which sparked the biggest manhunt in Metropolitan Police history but was never solved.
“Cathi Unsworth has been compared to cult noirist Derek Raymond. Here she enters a pantheon of writers exploring London lowlife that extends from Patrick Hamilton and Colin MacInnes” Christopher Fowler, Financial Times
To order a copy go HERE
To hear Cathi discussing the book with Travis Elborough go HERE
Meanwhile Stella Reade, an art student living in bohemian Ladbroke Grove, is woken by terrifying nightmares that echo the last hours of the murdered women – all of whom have been plucked from the streets around her home. Streets where fascists and Teddy boys, migrants and anarchists chase illicit thrills with gangsters and lords.
Bad Penny Blues is based on the Thames Towpath case of 1959-65, which sparked the biggest manhunt in Metropolitan Police history but was never solved.
“Cathi Unsworth has been compared to cult noirist Derek Raymond. Here she enters a pantheon of writers exploring London lowlife that extends from Patrick Hamilton and Colin MacInnes” Christopher Fowler, Financial Times
To order a copy go HERE
To hear Cathi discussing the book with Travis Elborough go HERE
A DAY TO REMEMBER
On Jordan's birthday, 23 June, our publisher Omnibus Press opened a special REMEMBERING JORDAN webpage, with memories, photos and reflections on her life from family, friends and admirers. Please go HERE
Jordan's memorial concert by MC John Robb HERE
Photo by Etienne Gilfillan
Jordan's memorial concert by MC John Robb HERE
Photo by Etienne Gilfillan
CATHI "TOO GOOD NOT TO BE CRAZY FAMOUS"
Cathi joins a list of 12 noir writers from around the globe who are considered by Criminal Element's GREG LEVIN: "Too good not to be crazy famous." You can read the whole story – and pick up some more top tips for your noir reading pleasure HERE
WATCH OUR TED TALK WITH DAVID PEACE, MARTYN WAITES, NICK TRIPLOW AND CATHI HERE
Cathi joined David Peace, Martyn Waites and Ted Lewis' biographer Nick Triplow to pay tribute to the life and influence of Ted Lewis in this Crowdcast event from No Exit Press and Crime Time UK. You can see it HERE
CATHI SAYS:
I LOVE LIBRARIES!
WESTMINSTER LIBRARIES – my local group of libraries in Ladbroke Grove, Paddington and West End Central – asked me to make a short video explaining how libraries have helped inspire and inform me my whole life. You can watch the video HERE via Facebook and HERE via Twitter. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
A TRIBUTE TO TIM SMITH
A mighty oak crashed down in the magic musical kingdom of my life with the passing of Tim Smith. Some years ago 3AM let me write about Cardiacs when The Leader of the Starry Skies album came out. My thanks to Andrew Stevens for restoring the feature with new links to some of Tim's most incredible songs that mean the most to me. I would also just like to send love and deepest sympathy to the entire Cardiacs family: Jim, Billiam Dee, Kavus, Sarah, Dominic, Tim Quy, Alan James, Bic Haynes and Jo Spratley who helped me so much with this feature. Everything I want to say is written HERE
NEW AUDIO: CATHI ON THE ORIGINS OF GOTH AT THE BUREAU
OF LOST CULTURE
WITH STEPHEN COATES
Cathi joined musician and cultural curator STEPHEN COATES at his Bureau of Lost Culture show on Soho Radio to talk about the origins of Gothic music and spin some sounds from The Banshees, The Cramps, The Sisters, Shock-Headed Peters, The Cult and The Bunnymen… TUNE INTO THE PODCAST HERE
THE SINGER MAKES THE INDEPENDENT'S TOP 25 CRIME NOVELS TO READ DURING LOCKDOWN
The Independent's Sarah Hughes has put The Singer in her 25 lesser-known crime titles to read during Lockdown, in a fantastic list that begins with Alexander Baron's King Dido. Get the full SP HERE
WEIRDO NAMED IN
THE TIMES TOP TEN
CRIME NOVELS OF
THE PAST DECADE!
Many thanks to MARK SANDERSON for elevating Weirdo to the upper echelons of the past decade's crime novels The Times. His review reads:
Cathi Unsworth is a brilliant writer who would be far better known were it not for her refusal to repeat herself. Her fourth and best novel is set in a seaside town not unlike her native Great Yarmouth. Swinging between the Eighties and the Noughties, it is essentially a game of cat-and-mouse between a private eye and a retired cop responsible for more than one miscarriage of justie. Teenage angst, police corruption and witchcraft combine in a full-blooded neo- noir.
The other writers in the Top Ten are Peter Temple (Truth), Ruth Rendell (The Vault), Ruth Dudley Edwards (Killing The Emperors), Karin Slaughter (Cop Town), Ian Rankin (Even Dogs In The Wild), Fred Vargas (A Climate of Fear), Denise Mina (The Long Drop), George Pelecanos (The Man Who Came Down) and Jo Nesbo (Knife) – so the little oddball is in good company!
Cathi Unsworth is a brilliant writer who would be far better known were it not for her refusal to repeat herself. Her fourth and best novel is set in a seaside town not unlike her native Great Yarmouth. Swinging between the Eighties and the Noughties, it is essentially a game of cat-and-mouse between a private eye and a retired cop responsible for more than one miscarriage of justie. Teenage angst, police corruption and witchcraft combine in a full-blooded neo- noir.
The other writers in the Top Ten are Peter Temple (Truth), Ruth Rendell (The Vault), Ruth Dudley Edwards (Killing The Emperors), Karin Slaughter (Cop Town), Ian Rankin (Even Dogs In The Wild), Fred Vargas (A Climate of Fear), Denise Mina (The Long Drop), George Pelecanos (The Man Who Came Down) and Jo Nesbo (Knife) – so the little oddball is in good company!
