An Obsession With Carp Remastered!

When the initial national lockdown struck us in March last year, many people across various industries dug deep into their pools of creativity for ways to engage and entertain us. Joe Wicks might have got us exercising and Sophie Ellis-Bextor might have serenaded us with karaoke in her kitchen, but Dave Lane was angling’s from-home hero as he read from his back catalogue of carpy tales. The response to his Jackanory version of An Obsession With Carp has led to the reprint you see on this page. The original book, first published in 1998 and long since out of print, found a new appreciative audience and has gone back into circulation with this remastered version. 

Dave says the words have remained virtually unchanged, save for a few tweaked sentences or paragraphs to hone the flow of some sections, but it’s in the imagery that this new version really shines. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Dave explained: “Back in the day when I published the first book you couldn’t get all-colour photography. You could, but it was massively expensive. As such, the book had a lot of small black-and-white photos and any colour photos were all lumped together in little blocks. They weren’t where you wanted them and they weren’t very special. It’s now full colour—there’s something like 138 colour plates in there.”

As well as remastered colour photos, Dave has also included lots of images that he wasn’t able to include in the original 1998 version. The new version costs £30 and is available from davelane.co.uk

Dave’s personal favourite chapters
1. Chapter 2: The Obsession Grows – Harefield
2. Chapter 7: Horton – The Third Season
3. Chapter 12: Mary
4. Chapter 14: Encounters and Captures in Sunnymeads Corner
5. Chapter 24: Battle of the Pikeys