No Milk Today - by Andrew Ward (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Traditionally, in British society, the milkman has been a family friend, a sex symbol and a cheerful chappie. He has been the eyes and ears of the community, and his genetic legacy has supposedly passed into the lineage of housewives.

This collection of folk tales about milkmen covers the history of the job and the milkman's everyday experience. The book is structured by the milkman's working day. It starts with the alarm-clock and ends with the milkman returning home in search of sustenance and tender loving care. The book is less about changes in the dairy industry and more about the work experiences of the people who have delivered milk.

Many milkmen are featured: Chris Frankland delivered over eight million pints before he retired at seventy-four; Alistair Maclean drove two million miles across the north coast of Scotland in fifty years; and Tony Fowler, an award-winning Leicestershire milkman, helped to put over fifty people in prison.

For more than thirty years the author has collected milkman stories through oral testimony, newspaper archives, anecdotes, diaries, books and more formal interviews.

From the Back Cover

'Please leave two pints today, please ring if note blows away'

In the milkman's heyday, over 40,000 milkmen - occasionally milkwomen - were delivering milk to virtually every household. By 2014, however, only 4,000 milkmen remained, serving only a tenth of all households.

This book celebrates the daily working lives of milkmen, from their wake-up call in the middle of the night to their weary return home. From Alistair Maclean, who drove two million miles across the north of Scotland over fifty years, to award-winning Leicestershire milkman Tony Fowler, who helped to put over fifty criminals behind bars.

A milkman's life was one of early starts, worn-out boots, breakdowns - often enough in atrocious weather - amorous escapades (both real and imagined), dangerous animals and petty fiddles. The tale of the vanishing milkman is also one of broader societal changes: price deregulation, the dissolution of the Milk Marketing Board and changing diets etc.

Review Quotes

. . . a gold top read--Sunday Post (Dundee)

About the Author

Andrew Ward is a freelance writer who has worked as a milkman. He has over thirty books to his name. Ward has also worked as a statistician and researcher in commerce, industry and higher education. He is currently working on two social-history projects with Professor Tim Newburn of the London School of Economics.