New James May to Hodder

Hodder & Stoughton is publishing a book inspired by James May’s "cult" BBC television series "The Reassembler", a series in which May dismantles various objects to marvel at the intricacies and engineering behind them when he puts them back together.

In each of the TV programmes, May - formerly of BBC's "Top Gear", currently of Amazon's freshly launched "The Grand Tour" - reassembles a favourite object including a lawnmower, record player, electric guitar, a Bakelite telephone and a model train, which has been carefully taken apart to reveal all its hundreds of components. A second series is in production for transmission in 2017.

May said: "I’m delighted to be writing a book about putting things back together, because it’s a subject that fascinates me, but which I assumed was a lonely passion that I would take to the grave, unconsummated by the normal channels of human interaction. But we Reassemblers are not alone: our screwdrivers are our flashing Excaliburs as we sally forth to make small parts of the fragmented world whole again."

Hodder and Stoughton non-fiction publisher Rupert Lancaster added: "Aside from having a massive media profile, James is an original thinker, a very fine writer and absolutely on-trend with The Reassembler - a book (and TV series) which embodies all that’s best about the Slow Movement."

Hodder & Stoughton acquired world volume rights from Luigi Bonomi and LBA, acting on behalf of the author and Plum Pictures. UK publication will be in June 2017.