Passion For Speed about to be released

The brand-new edition of Into The Red – now called Passion For Speed – is released by Carlton this month.

The best-selling book by Nick Mason and Mark Hales has been updated and enlarged with two additional cars. The phenomenal 21^st-century, limited-edition Ferrari Enzo – Nick’s car claimed Top Gear’s lap record when it appeared on the show driven by the then-anonymous Stig – is balanced by the elegance and manners of the 1964 Alfa Romeo TZ1. As ever, both cars were tested to the limit (this time on the Anglesey Road Circuit), photographed at speed and there signature engine sounds captured for the CD that comes with the book. Turn it up loud! Nick and Mark will be promoting the book through the autumn. More news as soon as dates are confirmed.

Silly season coverage

It was probably a slow news week, but Medway News, one of the local newspapers covering the Kent area where Philip lives, kindly ran a profile of him by Max Evans in their 15^th July issue under the title ‘Writer who can rock it with the best of them.’

Favourite line from the piece was ‘His eyes flicker lambent like an antiques salesman, only he is selling you what you’ve already bought: your own passions, with his enthusiasm to wax up the finish’.

The photo with the article shows Philip in his ‘jaunty’ office overlooking the Medway. Eagle-eyed readers will spot that the blue and white Chinese pot Philip uses for his pens appears in the exquisite Philip Bannister painting featured on the home page for this site!

Praise for The Last Matchmaker

The Last Matchmaker, just published by Little Brown’s Sphere imprint, has been getting good reviews from the broadsheet press, alongside praise for Philip’s particular skill in capturing the voices of the people he works and writes with.

On 14th January, The Times, in a feature article about Willie Daly called ‘You have to find the magic’, wrote that “Willie’s book may have been ghostwritten but it is all him: the pages conjure an Ireland which many believed had vanished along with the fairies he describes.’ And The Irish Times also pointed out that ‘the stories of his matchmaking life, which, as he says, Philip Dodd has helped him put on paper, retain the flavour of the spoken word and a nice turn of phrase.’ And a couple more lines from the Irish Times piece: ‘The tone is demure, but full of fun and an understanding of human nature… Even if you are not looking for a better half, the book is an entertainment in itself, and, moreover, a great advertisement for the delights of west Clare.’