Remembering Ian Marchant: A Life of Creative Exploration
The literary and broadcasting world mourns the loss of Ian Marchant, who passed away at age 67 from prostate cancer. The writer, performer, teacher and broadcaster leaves behind a remarkable legacy of work that celebrated the unconventional aspects of British life.
A Unique Voice in British Writing
Marchant developed a distinctive hybrid style of nonfiction that blended memoir, travel writing, humour and social observation. His 2003 work Parallel Lines offered a deeply researched yet unconventional history of Britain's railways, while The Longest Crawl in 2006 traced the nation's relationship with alcohol from The Turk's Head in the Isles of Scilly to The Baa Bar in Shetland.
His 2012 publication Something of the Night explored what Britons do after dark, and A Hero for High Times delivered exactly what its extravagant subtitle promised: A Younger Reader's Guide to the Beats, Hippies, Freaks, Punks, Ravers, New-Age Travellers and Dog-on-a-Rope Brew Crew Crusties of the British Isles, 1956-1994.
Writer Iain Sinclair, reviewing the work in the Guardian, recognised it as a "monumental defence of the alternative way" - a fitting description for a book that celebrated those who chose their own path, much like Marchant himself.
From Rock Dreams to Radio Waves
Marchant's early ambition was to become a rock star, and in the early 1980s his 10-piece Brighton band the Mood Index Continuum achieved local success with Radio Sussex sessions and a loyal following. Though record labels showed interest, the band never secured a contract.
This experience taught him that perfectionism could be the enemy of achievement, leading him to embrace a more diverse career that better suited his varied talents and warm charisma.
Born in Shalford, Surrey on 14 March 1958 to Jean (née Bulbeck) and Alan Marchant, an engineer, he moved to Newhaven in Sussex at age eight following his parents' separation. After attending Tideway comprehensive school, he studied philosophy at St David's University College in Lampeter, though he failed to complete his final exams.
The 1980s saw him singing in Brighton bands while working in betting shops as a board-marker and cashier. During this period he married Rowan Manby, who tragically died from a brain haemorrhage in 1987. They had a daughter, Esme, and he later had a second daughter, Eleanor from his 1989 marriage to Jillian Stuteley, which ended in divorce in 1994.
Multiple Careers and Creative Renaissance
In 1990, Marchant returned to full-time education at Lancaster University, successfully completing a degree in the history and philosophy of science. There he began performing at The Yorkshire House music pub, where he met keyboard-player Chas Ambler and formed the comedy loungecore duo Your Dad. The pair achieved the unusual distinction of being bottom of the bill at Glastonbury festival seven years running.
His first novel, In Southern Waters, was published in 1999, followed by The Battle for Dole Acre in 2001. In 2002, he became residential director alongside novelist Monique Roffey at the Arvon writing centre at Totleigh Barton in Devon.
Marchant settled in the Welsh border town of Presteigne in 2006, where he founded Radio Free Radnorshire and taught creative writing at Birmingham City University. He became a star of the annual Presteigne panto and launched yet another career as a television presenter with an ITV Border documentary about Scottish engineer Thomas Telford.
This was followed by Fun for Some in 2008, a series where he explored minority hobbies with genuine enthusiasm. From 2011, he fronted programmes on BBC Radio 3 and 4, covering diverse subjects including the north-south divide, the situationists and the history of barbed wire.
Later Life and Legacy
He married Hilary Wallace, a fellow champion quizzer, in 2010 and began writing a regular Diary column for the Church Times. His later-life Church of England faith complemented his predisposition for tolerance and eccentric Englishness.
During the Covid pandemic, with Hilary's assistance, Marchant discovered a distant ancestor - Thomas Marchant, a land-owning Sussex yeoman who kept a published diary covering 1714-28. This discovery inspired his final nonfiction work, One Fine Day (2023), which explored the conversation between past and present.
His final novel, The Breaking Wave (2025), about reuniting an 80s band in late middle-age, launched to a packed house at Presteigne's Assembly Rooms in September. Despite his illness, he remained in his element - funny, engaging and thoroughly engaged with his audience until the end.
Ian Marchant is survived by his wife Hilary, daughters Esme and Eleanor, stepdaughters Victoria and Stephanie, and four grandchildren: Cordelia, Aurelia, Rafael and Miguel.
