Please, Mister Postman (book)

{{Short description|Book by Alan Johnson}}{{Infobox book

| image = Please, Mister Postman (book).jpg

| author = Alan Johnson

| pub_date = 2014

| language = English

| caption = First edition

| publisher = Bantam Press

| genre = Memoir

}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{italic title}}

Please, Mister Postman is the second volume of memoirs by Alan Johnson, first published in 2014.{{cite news|last1=Mullin|first1=Chris|title=Please, Mr Postman and Sailing Close to the Wind reviews – Alan Johnson and Dennis Skinner's memoirs|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/21/please-mister-postman-johnson-review-sailing-close-to-the-wind-dennis-skinner|accessdate=29 October 2014|work=The Observer|date=21 September 2014}}{{cite news|last1=Lewis|first1=Helen|title=Please, Mister Postman review – a charming sequel from Alan Johnson|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/09/please-mister-postman-alan-johnson-review-memoir-autobiography|accessdate=29 October 2014|work=The Guardian|date=9 October 2014}}{{cite news|last1=Wilby|first1=Peter|title=Alan Johnson's Please, Mister Postman: the best political testament I have ever read|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/10/alan-johnson-s-please-mister-postman-best-political-testament-i-have-ever-read|accessdate=29 October 2014|work=New Statesman|date=2 October 2014}}{{cite news|last1=Rentoul|first1=John|title=Alan Johnson, Please, Mister Postman, book review: An elegy to a time not so long gone|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/alan-johnson-please-mister-postman-book-review-an-elegy-to-a-time-not-so-long-gone-9745119.html|accessdate=29 October 2014|work=The Independent|date=21 September 2014}}{{cite news|last1=Engel|first1=Matthew|title='Please, Mister Postman', by Alan Johnson|url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/db8648ce-431c-11e4-9a58-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3HZ1KY2EJ|accessdate=29 October 2014|work=The Financial Times|date=26 September 2014}} The title is a reference to the Beatles' cover of the song of the same name, and to Johnson's past as a postman.{{cite web|title=Boy, can Alan Johnson write|work=The Spectator |date=25 September 2014 |url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/9321542/please-mr-postman-by-alan-johnson-review/|accessdate=2 December 2014}}

Johnson begins the book at Christmas 1967 when, as a 17-year-old he was an aspiring rock musician, working as a shelf stacker and living in lodgings in Hammersmith. Within the next year he had married, become a father and step-father and started a career at the Post Office.