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

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Murphy, Nichola (26 September 2022). "The Repair Shop's Jay Blades 'wasn't ready' to be a father". HELLO!. Whitfield, Tony (25 September 2022). "Jay Blades says Repair Shop fixed him after his difficult childhood". Daily Express. Personally for me the writing style let it down a little. There was such an over use of exclamation marks and it - perhaps irrationally - annoyed me. It felt like everything was being shouted or exaggerated. Though admittedly I think this exclamation enthusiasm decreased in the second half of the book, either that or I noticed it less. Making It: How Love, Kindness and Community Helped Me Repair My Life (Bluebird Books, 2021) ISBN 9781529059199 Blades, Jay (27 July 2021). Making It: How Love, Kindness and Community Helped Me Repair My Life. Pan Macmillan UK. ISBN 9781760987633.

Making It: How Love, Kindness and Community Helped Me R…

In June 2023, Blades presented Jay Blades' East End Through Time; a three-part documentary series shown on Channel 5, [24] which was followed by The Midlands Through Time in October. [25] Personal life [ edit ] We had our hardships, and there were times that we didn't have a lot of food and didn't have a lot of money. But that didn't stop me having the time of my life. THOUGHTS: Read this book slowly. Take the time to truly assimilate the personal journey of the phenomenal flawed human being who presents and carries the TV sensation" The Repair Shop" on his shoulder.I admire him, on how he turned his life around, and how he helped young people to improve their lives. Jay always has such a kind, sympathetic and insightful manner when talking to people on TV, when I saw his autobiography I didn’t hesitate in buying it. I wasn’t disappointed and could hardly put it down.

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

I have a major question, however, viz. how, given that undiagnosed dyslexia had left him more or less unable to read or write, he was accepted into university to study Philosophy and Criminology. Surely he should have acquired adequate reading skills first? a b Harvey, Ian (12 June 2021). "MBE for Repair Shop presenter Jay Blades in Queen's Birthday Honours". Shropshire Star . Retrieved 13 June 2021. All in all, I think you get a very interesting insight into the actual human that is Jay Blades, not the TV persona, not a public persona, the real deal. I think it's a little light on self-recrimination, but, as someone said, " Everyone is necessarily the hero of [their] own life story." and I do think that the book indicates that he's trying to live by the credo that he closes the book out with: " all you can do is be good". He appears to be highly thought of in the UK (he has been awarded an MBE) yet his book highlights a propensity to begin things with great enthusiasm, only to move on to something else some time later. This is true of his schemes to help disadvantaged youth, of which three are described in detail (Mr. Blades is now only involved in the third one, but more distantly as his TV work increases and takes up more of his time). It also applies to his relationships, yet he expresses no regrets or remorse for successive failures and break-ups. a b c Robertson, Dominic (10 August 2021). "Jay Blades: Why I have taken on challenge of reading at 51". Shropshire Star. p.8.Also in that year he released a memoir, Making It: How Love, Kindness and Community Helped Me Repair My Life, published by Pan Macmillan UK. [12] Against the odds, though, he took these circumstances to grow and create change within the communities he worked and cared for. Although some of the aspects covered in Making It like the author’s dyslexia, have been alluded to, or even well documented, in recent times, Making It is a wonderful, detailed insight into the life and personality of Jay Blades. The book covers the period from Blades' birth (in 1970) right through to the publishing date in 2021 (thus just missing his MBE). It ranges through an estate-bound but happy childhood and his initial run-in with racism when he enters secondary schooling, on to a troubled and violent adolescence that acts as a prelude to a most remarkable emotional rollercoaster of a life. It's not a long book, but I still zipped through it pretty fast because the chapters kept ending in cliffhangers (i was still reading at 01:30, 02:00 on consecutive nights)!

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

Blades and his wife Jade set up a charity based in High Wycombe, Out of the Dark, to train disadvantaged young people in furniture restoration. [6] The charity lost funding, their marriage broke down, and he became homeless. [6] He was supported by friends and by the Caribbean community. [6] Around the same time, television producers saw a short film about the charity which led to his work as a presenter. [6] He moved to Wolverhampton and established Jay & Co, a social enterprise to support disadvantaged and disengaged groups. [11] I admit to being a trifle skeptical about the content, I suspect that an autobiography doesn't have to be quite as strict with the truth as a fully-cited biography does. However, I do think that that bones of this story are true and it's worth noting that Mr Blades pulls no punches when it comes to explicitly detailing what society might be inclined to call his "failings of character". I liked very much that he calls out what he sees as failings in others and himself, although I do feel he was a little lax in applying the same standards to himself that he'd like to see in others, most specifically his father comes in for a pretty heavy lambasting throughout the book for his absence, deservedly so, but Jay has essentially repeated the "crimes" he so vehemently decries and although he's somewhat salving the wounds with money, the outcomes of some of his children's life indicate that there's potentially some element of Jay's absenteeism that could explain where they're at. That said, as he states in the book, " You can't live your kids' lives for them", he's done what he can, with who he is and even if he contributed to some of the problems, at least he's still trying to do something about contributing to the solution as well. Furniture dealer turned TV star Jay Blades chats about his style in Wolverhampton". Shropshire Star. 18 August 2018 . Retrieved 31 October 2019. 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]

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. He is best known for presenting The Repair Shop, Money for Nothing and Jay Blades' Home Fix, and co-presenting Jay and Dom's Home Fix. [14] [15] Even though he had a fairly violent past, Jay comes across as a genuinely kind person, that really wants to help others. Exclusive: The Repair Shop's Jay Blades marries Lisa Zbozen in romantic Barbados wedding". 4 December 2022. 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.