New book; The Green Badge of Knowledge
An Oxton cockney and proud of it, Tony Davidson speaks in East End vernacular, giving the lowdown on a childhood of tough love among London’s street allegiances and hard ethics. Be prepared for boxing showdowns, adventures on ‘bird’-pulling holidays and Friday-night pub confrontations with the ’Oxton Mob’.
Nearly barbecued while working ‘on the gas’, Davidson decides to strive for the ‘real deal’: to become a London black cab driver.
He shares the pain and comradeship of that elite group working together for The Knowledge. Cabbie life depends on a network of tough mates protecting each other’s backs against some dodgy characters.
Hilarious and tender stories teem from the driver-passenger relationship, and between driving the frail, funny and famous, he tells of struggles with alcohol, the taxman, family life and the courts of so-called justice. Davidson’s humour floods the book, and despite sobering obstacles, his strength and loyalties shine through.
