WP Matthew
Long before Nick Knowles, William Percival Matthew was the media darling of DIY. WP Matthew was a TV, Radio and Newspaper Handyman, whose methods and unique charm were shared with the nation during the 1930s when over a million listeners crowded around wireless sets to hear’ Your House in Order’ – DIY being taught on the radio.
Waterworks
Not everybody chooses to take a ‘Help Yourself’ book on ‘Water Services’ to read while waiting for an oncology appointment, but i found the little red book, written in 1954, soothing and distracting. Plumbing seemed so simple then- no combi boilers or underfloor heating to get confused by, and underpinning…
“Hello, I believe you are looking for me.”
And so began a phone conversation I had been hoping for since I began to read the many fascinating ‘handyman’ books of W.P.Matthew, and longed to find out more about the man who wrote them. I was talking to his son. I discovered, during our half hour conversation that I…
Gathering Tools
W. P Matthew nearly always began his books with some thoughts about attitude. Chapter one of ‘How to be a handyman 1939’ – Well the aim of this book is to make this ‘Getting -down-to-it’ process easier, more of a pleasure, and less of a hardship. I suggest that there…
How Many Wives?
W.P Matthew appeared on Woman’s hour on 11 May 1950 with Barry Bucknell. They were discussing whether men should have more than one wife. This ‘humourous’ exchange brought together Barry Bucknell, who was better known for speaking on women’s matters and the DIY man introduced as W.P Matthews. I have…
The Unsung Rung
Most people think of Barry Bucknell if they remember DIY demonstrated on TV in the 1950s. Barry was a legend of live TV and the designer of the brilliant ‘Mirror’ dinghy. He also ran a building company with his father and had apprenticed at Daimler. But it was a sudden…
