Jay McGuiness: The Night Where I Was Glad I Came To The Talk! 😊❤️🎭📕📗📘📙📚🧚🧚‍♀️

Jul 16
5 min read

Hello world! Welcome back to another blog. Today I will be talking about the night I went to see Jay McGuiness at my local Palace Theatre in Newark, as part of Newark Book Festival which took place between 9th-12th July 2026 (with the picture below drawn by one of the volunteers of the festival). This was one which left me both starstruck and inspired, and like their song, it was a day where it would stay gold forever!

Who Is Jay McGuiness?

Jay McGuiness is a singer best known for being the vocalist in boyband “The Wanted”. After winning Strictly Come Dancing Back in 2015, he has since gone on to develop a career in the west end and then made his way into writing. I had the pleasure of seeing him perform in "The Wanted" back when I was 12, which was also the first time I got to experience a concert, and watching him grow from being in the band, to being on Strictly Come Dancing and seeing updates on his social media about being in the West End and Touring, he’s definitely made Newark proud!

A Link Between Him And My Family:

My family actually have a surprising link with Jay, as my father knew his auntie Helen and uncle Phil from school, and he and my mum (god rest her soul) also knew his mum Maureen. It just goes to show how small the world really is, and how connected people really are with each other, and I know they would all be proud of the person he has grown into. I was going to mention it, but didn’t, mainly because I don’t want to come across as too forward (an autistic trait in which bluntness can be mistaken for being rude or too much) but also because he had a lot of people who wanted their books signed by him, so I didn’t want to hold up the Que. But Jay if you’re reading this, just know that me and my dad loved watching you perform all those years ago, and you definitely inspired me to keep going as a performer myself!

His Books:

Jay had also developed a career in writing. These consisted of Bloodflowers, which was published on 8th January 2024, and Poison Tides, published on 3rd July 2025 and is currently working on a third book. Both books follow the adventure of Bear Aberson and the fictional world of Calleston, who in Bloodflowers, dreams for a long life away from the village of Cobbleside and wants to go to the richer part called Roofside, and in Poison Tides, he goes on an adventure with three witches to find their captive sister, but not before coming across some major stumbling blocks and wanting to rescue his friend. What first drew me to the books in the first place were the covers, as not only did the image look beautiful, but the name in itself “Bloodflowers” was a real hook. Something which a brilliant writer needs to have. I also got the themes of the book, which include class and prejudice. Prejudice was seen in characters like Felix, who in the book was a Fennex and were outlawed. I thought that was relevant for today’s society as for people like myself who are disabled, or for people who are LGBTQ and those who are people of colour etc. there’s still some prejudice today that you think would’ve been accepted by now.

The Talk:

The evening itself, in the words of Anton Du Beke, was marvellous. As mentioned at the start of this blog, this was all part of Newark Book Festival, where I got to get an insight as to how he started writing, the full description of the main characters Bear, Felix and Meya, and how the two books link with Newark and also his life touring with both “The Wanted” and his musical theatre career. He also mentioned about his idea if the books were to be made into a TV series or film, and yes it may take a while, but to have that vision already is brilliant. What I liked most about that talk was how friendly he came across, doing impersonations of his friends from another country (which was entertaining) and also how their was lovely moments where he mentioned his family (where I was literally sat behind his mum and auntie). Mind you, my dad and taxi driver (who I was told did a few drop offs with his family) did say he was a nice guy behind the scenes, and they weren’t kidding. And Coco was a brilliant host, making Jay feel very comfortable and welcoming. I just now wonder if the Coco got to see the first draft of his first book after making the bet about England vs Norway in the World Cup that day…

Book Signing:

The book signing itself was exciting! To have someone you’ve looked up to get their signature on a book you were hooked onto was magical in itself, but to have a tiny conversation with him was also something that happens every once in a blue moon. I mentioned to him about my “proper job” (and joked about how I can get him a discount if he were to come in the next day) and my plans for the rest of the evening. He also mentioned a show called “I Love Lucy” (which I’ve seen clips of on social media) and I got a lovely picture with him as seen below. It may not have been for long, but it was enough for me to know that everyone was right when he said he was a nice person behind the scenes. I guess that was my only downside, as I wish I could’ve told him about my journey as an actor and how I made my own short film (which I didn’t due to mainly due to time constraints and as mentioned before, how there were other people waiting for their books to be signed and I didn’t want to hold up the Que), but hopefully after tagging him on a post on my acting page (where I’ll leave a link at the end of this article) he’ll see my passion for the arts too!

And that is it for my review of when I saw Jay McGuiness. If you were in the Newark area let me know if you saw him and your thoughts on the night, along with if you read his books and your thoughts on them. Please also click the link below to a video where I perform the opening poem to “Bloodflowers”.

https://youtube.com/shorts/saW1_mAPMy0?si=GtVPvYi8a0qKLD7W