what people say

Rapturous in places, repulsive in others, but a powerful autobiography, grappling with faith, sex, the media and the horrific implications of fictional violence on our disturbed society. Not to be missed, even if it demands a strong stomach.

Michael Saward

Hymnwriter and former Canon Treasurer of St Paul's Cathedral.

This autobiography has a dynamic forthrightness and range. The chapters on the Welsh miners’strike were the highlight as were those on the Sunday Telegraph. I never realised journalists were so drunken and badly behaved.

John Davies

Poet and publisher.

In The Reporter's Tale, Tom Davies takes the reader on a sensuous and, at times, harrowing pilgrimage. John Bunyan might have written something like this had he joined that rabble on a pub crawl to Canterbury. A testimony of hope, deep loss and a determination not to perish in the Godless shadows of our days. Be inspired.

Stewart Henderson

Poet and presenter of Questions, Questions on BBC Radio 4

Tom Davies, the former Observer journalist and one-time Penarth coal merchant, has moved to Bala and is producing books at an enviable rate.
This is an autobiography told with the speed of fiction. Davies spills the beans on a life that mixed god with debauchery in almost equal proportions. The Davies trajectory starts where many do, in the boundary-pushing ‘60s. Colin Wilson, Henry Miller and Jack Kerouac all feature as early influences.
Tom the Book’s progress from provincial journalist to UK national icon is charted with an engaging mixture of humour and revelation. I found it compulsive.

Peter Finch

Chief executive, Welsh Academy of Writers.