Making It: How Love, Kindness and Community Helped Me Repair My Life

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Jay has certainly had a colourful life, and it was a roller coaster reading through the highs and lows. At times I liked him, his passion and compassion, his drive and determination earned my respect, and then at times I couldn't understand his choices and wanted to shake him. Either way, I was totally invested in his life. It was an engaging and compelling memoir.

Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51 review - The Guardian Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51 review - The Guardian

I love Jay have watched him since I first saw him on Money for Nothing, there is something very warm, honest and open about him and his presenting style. This is full of humour and showing a lot of Jay’s cheeky personality, he is also brutally honest about his dyslexia, his childhood, he is very open about his past including how he hasn’t always treating women the way he should when he was younger. This covers the issue of racism in Britain today, obviously also covers his experiences with racism. It’s a very honest book and it’s like having a chat with jay himself, I really enjoyed how open he was and without rose tinted glasses, which is so rare. A wonderful read. Exclusive: The Repair Shop's Jay Blades marries Lisa Zbozen in romantic Barbados wedding". 4 December 2022. Loved this book and learnt a lot about the man behind Jay Blades. Love him even more now knowing what he's gone through in his life. He should be very proud of what he has achieved in his life and the man that he has become.

In one book, Jay shows the very best and the very worst of society - the amazing impact Gerald and his family have had on Jay, through to his absent father and the horrific racism and prejudices that have sadly followed him throughout his life. So many people in similar circumstances would have given up and not even tried to make anything of their lives, but fortunately for Jay (and for us!) he has often had the support and the love of the right people at the right time in his life. In September 2022 Blades appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs and said that his childhood had been "blighted by racism and violence". [18] [19] In October 2022 Blades was the lead presenter for the edition of The Repair Shop which featured King Charles III. [20] [21] Making It: How Love, Kindness and Community Helped Me Repair My Life (Bluebird Books, 2021) ISBN 9781529059199

BBC One - Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51 BBC One - Jay Blades: Learning to Read at 51

The Repair Shop's Jay Blades marries Lisa-Marie Zbozen in Barbados ceremony". Digital Spy. 5 December 2022. I, like most people, have appreciated Jay and the Repair Shop. The show is one of the best that's ever been on TV. Has Jay has shared his story from start to finish, I have gotten to know why I like him and the show so much. He's a real person telling a story that needs to be heard. His compassion for others is phenomenal. His ability to communicate with folks like me is a wonderful gift that he uses for us all. He has never read a book (including his autobiography – he told his life story to a ghostwriter) and once took a letter he knew was urgent from the hospital out on to the street to ask for help from a passerby because he had no one at home to help. On The Repair Shop, the production team brief him verbally before each scene rather than provide written notes. However, aside from being entertaining, interesting and engaging, I think Making It is an important book. Through his own, very personal experiences, Jay Blades gives permission for readers, especially men, to show and accept their vulnerability without embarrassment. He gives hope to all that, rather like the items that feature in the television programme The Repair Shop, for which he is most well known, there is always the possibility to create something new and beautiful from something – or someone – broken or damaged.The fabric of Jay's life apparently constitutes a weft of ebullient happiness anchored down by the warp of failure and depression. There are success stories and moments of barrel-bottom-scraping, and it's all told in the most genial and friendly of tones, using a very matter-of-fact London vernacular - so watch out, because there's a lot of unexpected cursing! The Jay of The Repair Shop is a screen persona that hides the street-friendly real-life Jay! He has also appeared on Would I Lie to You?, Celebrity Masterchef, Richard Osman's House of Games, Michael McIntyre's The Wheel, and The Graham Norton Show. [16] [17] WHAT an amazing honest and interesting book! Only having seen Jay on TV it’s such a revelation to read his life story. I have huge respect for him after reading about his successes, failures and how he’s persevered through it all to arrive at the place he’s now at.

Jay Blades books and biography | Waterstones

never2oldfurniture echoed the sentiment, commenting: "I'm on it, can't wait. I loved the last book". Jay Blades has announced his latest project – a new book sharing his lessons from the ups and downs of life. His life was full of challenges, and from an early age, he learned what a being person of colour truly means in a world created to give advantage and favour white people. Jay Blades, presenter of The Repair Shop, has decided it’s finally time to learn to read. He has been told he has the reading age of an 11-year-old. Throughout his life he has found ways of avoiding the written word, and this film digs deep into how this has shaped him. Youngs, Ian (1 April 2020). "From repairing lives to hosting The Repair Shop". BBC News . Retrieved 29 June 2020.Whitfield, Tony (25 September 2022). "Jay Blades says Repair Shop fixed him after his difficult childhood". Daily Express.

Making It by Jay Blades | Waterstones

Making It is an inspirational memoir about beating the odds and turning things around even when it all seems hopeless, by Jay Blades, the beloved star of hit BBC One show The Repair Shop. THE BAD: Painful to read about vents that happen decades ago when racism run rampant in many levels of the UK's society. I loved the honest, conversational style achieved with ghost writer Ian Gittins. What impressed me most was that Jay Blades doesn’t spare himself from an intense, unforgiving spotlight that sometimes belies the jovial cheeky chap we know from his television programmes. There are passages in Making It that are violent, brutal and very frequently accompanied by surprising expletives that, far from alienating the reader, draw them in and have the effect of making them love, admire and respect Jay Blades all the more. He has made mistakes, some of them quite appalling, and yet he comes across as the kind of man you’d want in your life. Even though I know the author is now a successful celebrity, I frequently felt tense as I read, wondering how he was going to overcome the latest obstacle life was throwing his way.This is a brilliant book! I’ve been a fan of Jay’s for years as an avid viewer of The Repair Shop, but I didn’t really know anything at all about the Jay underneath the flat cap!