No Milk Today

‘Please leave two pints today, please ring if note blows away‘ In the milkman‘s heyday, over 40,000 milkmen - occasionally milkwomen - were delivering milk to virtually every household. By 2014, however, only 4,000 milkmen remained, serving only a tenth of all households. This book celebrates the daily working lives of milkmen, from their wake-up call in the middle of the night to their weary return home. From Alistair Maclean, who drove two million miles across the north of Scotland over fifty years, to award-winning Leicestershire milkman Tony Fowler, who helped to put over fifty criminals behind bars. A milkman‘s life was one of early starts, worn-out boots, breakdowns - often enough in atrocious weather - amorous escapades (both real and imagined), dangerous animals and petty fiddles. The tale of the vanishing milkman is also one of broader societal changes: price deregulation, the dissolution of the Milk Marketing Board and changing diets etc.