This is Somerset -- After the success of his first two "60s boys" books, author Alan Hammond has completed the trilogy with the publication of his latest semi-autobiographical novel. The book continues the story of four teenagers who form a band in the sixties trying to make it big during an unlikely reunion tour. Nick Sheldon, the central character of the previous books, is now "a sixty-something divorcee Granddad, an old man with a fat gut, hair coming out of his nose and ears, a smoker's cough and shabby clothes." The book features a hastily-arranged reunion tour through the West Country, proving that while the 60s boys might've grown older, they've still a way to go before they grow up entirely. The band make an impromptu stop in Glastonbury on their travels after their van breaks down and they're forced to spend the night in the town in the back of their tour van. The welcome from the locals isn't exactly warm, although kudos has to go to Hammond for knowing well enough to call Glastonbury Festival the Glastonbury Pop Festival. Their trip through Somerset is suitably ramshackle with a run in with too much scrumpy and accidentally being mistake as a scouting party for a group of new-age travellers. Alan now lives in West Somerset. He said: "A promoter asks the boys to go back on tour after 35 years. "They are now in their 60s so you can imagine what they got up to as they toured the country in their gig van. "As with the other books it is strong on humour and it's hilarious as they live the dream again." The Sixties Boys on Tour is available from all good bookshops.
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