Dr Martens Air Wair is a book about the history of the celebrated boots, published in 1999 and written by Martin Roach, with a one-page introduction by John Peel below:
- "Hippies don't wear Dr. Martens. They wore baseball boots or, in my case, a pair of corduroy lace-ups that caused such damage to my feet and such pain when I remember to do so, I still walk with a slight but interesting limp. Well, I remember reading as a boy that Virgos often limp and I'm a Virgo. Not that I really believe in that sort of thing of course. But throughout the Seventies and Eighties I kinda yearned for a pair of Dr. Martens, only making my move when I realised that I was the only member of the family who wasn't wearing a pair. I bought a conventional pair of black 12-holers in Ipswich. My wife, Sheila, came with me. She knows that I like shopping about as much as I like flying; ie. not at all. She currently owns five pairs of Dr. Martens: two cherry reds, one with steel toe-caps, one without, a light green and a dark green and a purple. This morning she's wearing the dark greens.
- I'm still wearing the black ones I bought in Ipswich six or seven years ago. I wear them almost every day. Some of the stitching is awry and there is a centimetre long cut on the right boot where my toe-nail has slashed it's way through the leather. A little water comes in when it's wet but not much. There's a drawing pin stuck in the bottom of the left boot also and there is, I'm afraid, dried dog shit down there as well. These things will pass though, the dog shit sooner than the drawing pin.
- I also have a green pair of Dr. Martens, more laces, but they're still covered with mud from the last Glastonbury festival and lead a quiet lonely life outside the kitchen door. They're a size too big anyway because Sheila wasn't with me when I bought them. So I panicked and said "I'll take those. No they're fine," paid and made my escape.
- When I die, the children will probably argue over who gets my boots. "They're so typical of Dad," one of them will say fondly. "Escaping the dog shit," another will add and they'll all laugh. Kids, eh?"
Links[]
- Flicker: Peel introduction
- Good Reads: Reviews, etc