Daniel Gray - Sunday Best
Travels Through the Day of Rest
WithDaniel Gray
In conversation withAlan McCredie
On:23rd April 2025, 7:00pm - 8:00pm
Attendance options:

We're so pleased that Daniel Gray is coming back to the bookshop to celebrate the launch of Sunday Best: Travels Through the Day of Rest. It's an evocative celebration of the seventh day in all its rich variety and written with Gray's signature charm and wit. Gray will be in conversation with photographer Alan McCredie.
This event will take place in the bookshop with an in-person audience. There will be a signing after the event. Please note that there will not be a livestream of the event.
Vouchers can be redeemed on the night of the event against a single copy of Sunday Best – we will have a list of attendees with vouchers to be redeemed. Please note that only one voucher can be redeemed per book.
About Sunday Best:
Closed shops and roast dinners. Bulky newspapers and the hum of lawnmowers. Strolls to nowhere in particular and visiting snoozing grandparents. Television theme tunes cueing bath time and a sudden dread of the looming week ahead…
Through an assortment of rituals and activities, Sundays came to be the unique day in our week – whether tedious, pleasant or somewhere in-between. But how did they change over time? Has anything interesting ever happened on a Sunday? Have we forgotten how to do Sunday? And, in our rushed modern lives, should we now try to recapture that distinctive, unhurried Sunday feel?
Offering answers to those questions and more through a mix of travelogue and social history, Sunday Best entertainingly charts the story of what author Daniel Gray argues is the People’s Day. Told through Sundays whiled away in places from the Hebrides to Hyde Park – via Sunderland, Scarborough, The Peak District and beyond – Gray’s latest book is a charming journey in time and place. Sunday Best offers nostalgia, people’s history and affectionate, absorbing writing – a book drenched in the scent of gravy and summoning the faint sound of church bells.
Please note: Tickets for our events are non-refundable. Professional photography and videography may take place during this event. Thank you for your understanding.
Participants:
Daniel Gray Author
Daniel Gray is a writer, broadcaster and magazine editor from York, now living in Edinburgh. He has published a host of critically acclaimed books on football and social history, edits Nutmeg magazine and presents the When Saturday Comes podcast. The Silence of the Stands was shortlisted for Football Book of the Year at the Sunday Times Sports Book Awards 2023, and his previous book Food of the Cods was shortlisted for Debut Food Book of the Year at the Fortnum and Mason Food and Drink Awards 2024 and was a finalist for Food Book of the Year at the Guild of Food Writers 2024 awards.
Alan McCredie Chair
Based in Edinburgh, Alan McCredie has been a professional photographer for over ten years. He carries out all types of commercial photography work including advertising, design, theatre, portraiture, editorial, corporate and magazine work. In 2014, he published both One Hundred Weeks of Scotland and This Is Scotland with Luath Press.
The venue
The Portobello Bookshop
46 Portobello High Street
Edinburgh
EH15 1DA
Telephone: 0131 629 6756
Website: www.theportobellobookshop.com
Wheelchair Access
We have a ramp at the front of the shop which has a ratio of 1:10 and loading capacity of 300kg, and so should be able to be used by most wheelchair users or those with mobility vehicles. The front doors are fully automated. Our shop interior is designed to allow access throughout for wheelchair users and prams, though please note there is only 700mm wide clearance to access the staff toilet.
Sound
We use a PA system to enhance the audio at our live events. We also have a hearing loop system installed, if you’d like to use our loop system during an event please let us know and we’ll make sure we have it set up and connected to the live audio feed during the event. If you wish to attend an event and require BSL interpretation, please give us a few weeks notice and we’ll do our best to arrange an interpreter.