Tarmac Group 1964, now group managing director, Martin acquired key quarrying assets, including Cliffe Hill Granite, Rowley Regis Granite and Hillhead Hughes. In 1968, Martin engineered the three way merger between Tarmac, Derbyshire Stone and the Scottish Asphalt company, William Briggs, creating the country's "largest roadstone and construction group". The group was briefly known as Tarmac Derby but the Derby name was later dropped. Further acquisitions were to come. Permanite, Britain's biggest roofing felt manufacturer, and Limmer, a quoted asphalt company, were bought in 1971, while the 1973 purchase of Mitchell Construction (which had foundered on the Kariba Dam) strengthened the construction
What Is the What writes: "Over the course of many years, Dave and I have collaborated to tell my story... I told [him] what I knew and what I could remember, and from that material he created this work of art." The book is typical of Eggers' style: blending non-fictional and fictional elements into a non-fiction novel or memoir. By classifying the book a novel, Eggers says, he freed himself to re-create conversations, streamline complex relationships, add relevant detail and manipulate time and space in helpful ways—all while maintaining the essential truthfulness of the storytelling. However, not all critics were impressed. Lee Siegel sees