Understanding the British

How to be an Alien in England: A Guide to the English Angela Kiss (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

September Publishing

Publisher:

September Publishing

Pub Date:

18 Feb 2016

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback 200pp h198mm x w130mm 297g 20 ISBN13: 9781910463215 ISBN13: 978-1-910463-21-5 ISBN10: 1910463213 x Description: Ten years ago, Angela Kiss arrived in the UK without a word of English. All she brought with her was a small bag, a sense of adventure, a desire to work and a copy of George Mikes' classic 1940s' humour book about the peculiarities of the British, How to be an Alien. Through every dodgy flat share, low-paid waitressing job, awkward date and office mishap, Angela held tight to George's wit and wisdom. With his help she began to understand how to live amongst the English - with their eccentricity, spirit and singing train drivers - and fell in love with a land rich in green spaces, pubs and puddings. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

English Humour for Beginners George Mikes (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Penguin Books Ltd

Publisher:

Penguin Books Ltd

Pub Date:

02 Jun 2016

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback B-format paperback 160pp h198mm x w129mm x s9mm 117g B-format paperback ISBN13: 9780241978542 ISBN13: 978-0-241-97854-2 ISBN10: 0241978548 EAN: 9780241978542 x Description: If you want to succeed here you must be able to handle the English sense of humour.So proclaims George Mikes' timeless exploration of this curious phenomenon. Whether it's understatement, self-deprecation or plain cruelty, the three elements he identifies as essential to our sense of humour, being witty here is a way of life. Perfectly placed as an adopted Englishman himself, Mikes delivers his shrewd advice - helpfully divided into 'Theory' and 'Practice' - with a comic precision that does his chosen country proud. Drawing on a trove of examples from our rich comic canon, from Orwell ("Every joke is a tiny revolution") to Oscar Wilde, this is the essential handbook for natives and foreigners alike. Mrs Kennedy: "I don't think, Mr Churchill, that I have told you anything about my grandchildren."Winston Churchill: "For which, madam, I am infinitely grateful." _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How to be a Brit: The Classic Bestselling Guide George Mikes (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Penguin Books Ltd

Publisher:

Penguin Books Ltd

Pub Date:

05 Nov 2015

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback B-format paperback 272pp h198mm x w129mm x s17mm 191g B-format paperback ISBN13: 9780241975008 ISBN13: 978-0-241-97500-8 ISBN10: 024197500X EAN: 9780241975008 x Description: The hilariously accurate, witty and indispensable manual for everyone who longs to attain True Britishness'Got me in tears of laughter' 5***** Reader Review'Laugh-out-loud hilarious, witty and insightful' 5***** Reader Review_______Born in Hungary, George Mikes eventually spent more than forty years in the Britain observing behaviours and misbehaviours of local and foreign Brits.With essential chapters such as "How to Avoid Travelling", "On Shopping", "In Praise of Television", "On Not Complaining" and "How to Panic Quietly", you'll get to know Britain like never before.

Loved by readers and authors alike, How to Be a Brit contains Mikes's three major works -- How to be an Alien, How to be Inimitable and How to be Decadent.If you're British, you'll love it; if you're a foreigner, you'll appreciate it. Queuing: "An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue

of one." How to plan a town: "Street names should be painted clearly and distinctly on large boards. Then hide these boards carefully." Sex: "Continental people have sex lives: the English have hot water bottles."George Mikes's perceptive bestseller provides a complete guide to the British Way of Life._______'Hilarious and informative essays about the British way of life' 5***** Reader Review'So many people have tried to describe the English mentality . . . This book is as near as you can get!' 5***** Reader Review _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How to be a Brit: The Classic Bestselling Guide George Mikes (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Penguin Books Ltd

Publisher:

Penguin Books Ltd

Pub Date:

24 Apr 1986

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback B-format paperback 272pp h198mm x w129mm x s16mm 202g B-format paperback ISBN13: 9780140081794 ISBN13: 978-0-14-008179-4 ISBN10: 0140081798 EAN: 9780140081794 x Description: George Mikes has written many successful books on a variety of interesting subjects, but one so successful as those on the subject most central to his own experience: his adopted country. The first of these came out in 1946: the ever famous "How to be an Alien." Later he enlarges the picture with "How to be inimitable" and "How to be Decadent." All three books were illustrated by the master of the cartoonists' art, the late Nicolas Bentley. Here they are, all in one volume, which will make life much easier for today's would-be Brits than it was for those who pervaded them. It is said that a few of the latter actually failed to become indistinguishable from the genuine British article because they found it too tiresome to seek out three separate books: a misfortune that need never again occur to anyone. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How to be an Alien: A Handbook for Beginners and Advanced Pupils George Mikes (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Penguin Books Ltd

Publisher:

Penguin Books Ltd

Pub Date:

26 Jul 1973

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback 96pp h181mm x w111mm x s5mm 61g ISBN13: 9780140025149 ISBN13: 978-0-14-002514-9 ISBN10: 0140025146 EAN: 9780140025149 x Description: George Mikes says, 'the English have no soul; they have the understatement instead.' But they do have a sense of humour - they provide it by buying over three hundred thousand copies of a book that took them quietly and completely apart, a book that really took the Mikes out of them. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Watching the English: The International Bestseller Revised and Updated Kate Fox (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Hodder & Stoughton

Publisher:

Hodder & Stoughton

Pub Date:

23 Oct 2014

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback B-format paperback (Text (eye-readable)) 592pp h198mm x w148mm x s38mm 402g ISBN13: 9781444785203 ISBN13: 978-1-4447-8520-3 ISBN10: 1444785206 EAN: 9781444785203

x Description: In this completely revised and updated edition of international bestseller WATCHING THE ENGLISH, anthropologist Kate Fox takes a revealing look at the quirks, habits and foibles of the English people. Now with new survey data to add weight to her original fieldwork findings, and more extensive field-research and experiments to back up earlier observations, Kate Fox has deciphered yet more enigmatic behaviour codes, adding new rules, new subcultures, new chapters and over 100 updates. If you're English, this new edition of Kate Fox's acclaimed international bestseller will make you stand back and re-examine everything you take for granted - and if you aren't English you'll finally understand all our peculiar little ways.

WATCHING THE ENGLISH has sold more than half a million copies and has been translated into many languages. Not only a worldwide bestseller, but also a set text for university anthropology courses, WATCHING THE ENGLISH has been widely praised as a revealing and entertaining dissection of the English national character. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The How to be British Collection Martyn Alexander Ford (Author) Peter Christopher Legon (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Lee Gone Publications

Publisher:

Lee Gone Publications

Pub Date:

01 Jun 2005

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Spiral bound 64pp h120mm x w176mm 32 postcard type cased - spine over spiral ISBN13: 9780952287032 ISBN13: 978-0-9522870-3-2 ISBN10: 095228703X x Description: A perennially popular collection of colour cartoon illustrations, with accompanying texts, on the endearing oddities of our British life and character. Drawing on their many years' experience of teaching English as a Foreign Language the authors also offer the wider world a tongue-incheek guide on how to get around in English and at the same time make sense of our 'funny ways'. It's a gentle brand of satire, and although there's the occasional barbed arrow for bland food, fashion disasters or dubious standards of hygiene, the tone of The "How To Be British Collection" is more nostalgic than scornful, and the pet-loving, royal-watching, tea drinking characters that populate its pages are viewed with wry affection. Cartoons like "How to be Polite" and "How to Complain" have been reproduced in publications all over the world, perhaps because they put a finger on that peculiar tentativeness that foreigners find so puzzling (and so funny) about us. In order to be British, or at any rate to pass unnoticed in British society, the visitor must learn not to 'make a fuss'. A fuss is something that the true Brit cannot stand.

It is nearly as bad as a 'scene', and in the same category as 'drawing attention to yourself'. In the first frame of How To Be Polite, a man -- presumably an uninitiated foreign visitor -- has fallen into a river. He's clearly in trouble and is shouting HELP! -- at the top of his voice, judging by the speech bubble. An English gentleman is walking his dog along the river bank. There's a lifebelt prominently displayed beside them, but the gent and his dog are walking away from the emergency with disapproving expressions. In the next frame, the man in the river has changed his strategy and is calling out: "Excuse me, Sir. I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but I wonder if you would mind helping me a moment, as long as it's no trouble, of course...". And this time, naturally, the English gent is rushing to his aid, throwing the lifebelt into the water. Even the dog is smiling. Much of the material in The "How to be British Collection" is about how cultural differences can prove a minefield for the unwary. To that extent its appeal - in an age where so many of us travel and even set up home overseas - is universal.

Every visitor to Britain comes knowing that our favourite conversational gambit is the weather. But how many can successfully do it at 1) Elementary 2) Intermediate and 3) Advanced levels? The book's enduring popularity comes from the recognition factor -- how exposed we can be once we stray away from the comfort zone of our own native language. A hapless visitor, phrase book in hand, stops to ask an old lady in the street for directions. He looks pleased with himself for phrasing the question so nicely, but then is utterly at a loss to understand her long, rambling, minutely detailed reply. We've all been there. To help the poor innocent abroad around these cultural and linguistic booby-traps, the book includes on most pages collectible Expressions to learn and (of course) Expressions to avoid. Thus, under the entry for Real English, which negotiates the difficult area of colloquial speech including "idioms, slang and even the occasional taboo word, as used by flesh and blood native speakers" we find -- Expressions to learn:"'E nicked it off of a lorry and now the coppers 'ave done 'im for it." Expressions to avoid: "That's not correct English, Mrs. Jones -- it says so here in my grammar book". _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The How to be British Collection Martyn Alexander Ford (Author) Peter Christopher Legon (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Lee Gone Publications

Publisher:

Lee Gone Publications

Pub Date:

22 Apr 2003

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Spiral bound 64pp h120mm x w176mm 32 illustrations spine over spiral ISBN13: 9780952287018 ISBN13: 978-0-9522870-1-8 ISBN10: 0952287013

x Description: A perennially popular collection of colour cartoon illustrations, with accompanying texts, on the endearing oddities of our British life and character. Drawing on their many years' experience of teaching English as a Foreign Language the authors also offer the wider world a tongue-incheek guide on how to get around in English and at the same time make sense of our 'funny ways'. It's a gentle brand of satire, and although there's the occasional barbed arrow for bland food, fashion disasters or dubious standards of hygiene, the tone of The "How To Be British Collection" is more nostalgic than scornful, and the pet-loving, royal-watching, tea drinking characters that populate its pages are viewed with wry affection. Cartoons like "How to be Polite" and "How to Complain" have been reproduced in publications all over the world, perhaps because they put a finger on that peculiar tentativeness that foreigners find so puzzling (and so funny) about us. In order to be British, or at any rate to pass unnoticed in British society, the visitor must learn not to 'make a fuss'. A fuss is something that the true Brit cannot stand.

It is nearly as bad as a 'scene', and in the same category as 'drawing attention to yourself'. In the first frame of How To Be Polite, a man -- presumably an uninitiated foreign visitor -- has fallen into a river. He's clearly in trouble and is shouting HELP! -- at the top of his voice, judging by the speech bubble. An English gentleman is walking his dog along the river bank. There's a lifebelt prominently displayed beside them, but the gent and his dog are walking away from the emergency with disapproving expressions. In the next frame, the man in the river has changed his strategy and is calling out: "Excuse me, Sir. I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but I wonder if you would mind helping me a moment, as long as it's no trouble, of course...". And this time, naturally, the English gent is rushing to his aid, throwing the lifebelt into the water. Even the dog is smiling. Much of the material in The "How to be British Collection" is about how cultural differences can prove a minefield for the unwary. To that extent its appeal - in an age where so many of us travel and even set up home overseas - is universal.

Every visitor to Britain comes knowing that our favourite conversational gambit is the weather. But how many can successfully do it at 1) Elementary 2) Intermediate and 3) Advanced levels? The book's enduring popularity comes from the recognition factor -- how exposed we can be once we stray away from the comfort zone of our own native language. A hapless visitor, phrase book in hand, stops to ask an old lady in the street for directions. He looks pleased with himself for phrasing the question so nicely, but then is utterly at a loss to understand her long, rambling, minutely detailed reply. We've all been there. To help the poor innocent abroad around these cultural and linguistic booby-traps, the book includes on most pages collectible Expressions to learn and (of course) Expressions to avoid. Thus, under the entry for Real English, which negotiates the difficult area of colloquial speech including "idioms, slang and even the occasional taboo word, as used by flesh and blood native speakers" we find -- Expressions to learn:"'E nicked it off of a lorry and now the coppers 'ave done 'im for it." Expressions to avoid: "That's not correct English, Mrs. Jones -- it says so here in my grammar book". _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The How to be British Collection Two Martyn Alexander Ford (Author) Peter Christopher Legon (Author) Series:

Edition:

Revised edition

Imprint:

Lee Gone Publications

Publisher:

Lee Gone Publications

Pub Date:

01 Jul 2009

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Spiral bound 64pp h120mm x w176mm 32 cartoon style illustrations cased- spine over spiral ISBN13: 9780952287070 ISBN13: 978-0-9522870-7-0 ISBN10: 0952287072 This Product Replaces: 9780952287049 x _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The How to be British Collection Two Martyn Alexander Ford (Author) Peter Christopher Legon (Author) Series:

Edition:

Revised edition

Imprint:

Lee Gone Publications

Publisher:

Lee Gone Publications

Pub Date:

01 Jul 2009

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Spiral bound 64pp ISBN13: 9780952287063 ISBN13: 978-0-9522870-6-3 ISBN10: 0952287064 This Product Replaces: 9780952287025 x _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How to be British: A cartoon celebration Tim Benson (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Hutchinson

Publisher:

Cornerstone

Pub Date:

24 Oct 2019

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Hardback 112pp h184mm x w119mm x s16mm 162g ISBN13: 9781786332332 ISBN13: 978-1-78633-233-2 ISBN10: 1786332337 EAN: 9781786332332 x Description: Not sure why everyone keeps talking about the weather?Can't tell your Earl Grey from your English breakfast?Feeling a wobble in your stiff upper lip?It sounds like you need a crash course in How to be British. This handy pocket guide brings together 130 classic cartoons covering all the crucial elements of life on our sceptred isle: from queuing under absolutely any circumstances, to avoiding eye contact on the bus, to tutting and saying 'Honestly' when it starts raining.Whether you're a born-and-bred Brit or the most transient of tourists, How to be British is your one-stop remedy to Brexit blues. At least it's better than chatting about the weather again. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Notes From A Small Island: Journey Through Britain Bill Bryson (Author) Series:

Bryson

Edition:

Imprint:

Black Swan

Publisher:

Transworld Publishers Ltd

Pub Date:

30 Jul 2015

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback B-format paperback 384pp h198mm x w127mm x s24mm 262g B-format paperback ISBN13: 9781784161194 ISBN13: 978-1-78416-119-4 ISBN10: 1784161195 EAN: 9781784161194 x Description: In 1995, before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire to move back to the States for a few years with his family, Bill Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around Britain, a sort of valedictory tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. His aim was to take stock of the nation's public face and private parts (as it were), and to analyse what precisely it was he loved so much about a country that had produced Marmite; a military hero whose dying wish was to be kissed by a fellow named Hardy; place names like Farleigh Wallop, Titsey and Shellow Bowells; people who said 'Mustn't grumble', and 'Ooh lovely' at the sight of a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits; and Gardeners' Question Time. Notes from a Small Island was a huge number-one bestseller when it was first published, and has become the nation's most loved book about Britain, going on to sell over two million copies. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island Bill Bryson (Author) Series:

Bryson

Edition:

Imprint:

Black Swan

Publisher:

Transworld Publishers Ltd

Pub Date:

07 Apr 2016

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback A-format paperback 480pp h178mm x w110mm x s29mm 253g A-format paperback ISBN13: 9780552779845 ISBN13: 978-0-552-77984-5 ISBN10: 0552779849 EAN: 9780552779845 x Description: Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to celebrate the green and kindly island that had become his adopted country.

The hilarious book that resulted, Notes from a Small Island, was taken to the nation's heart and became the bestselling travel book ever, and was also voted in a BBC poll the book that best represents Britain.Now, to mark the twentieth anniversary of that modern classic, Bryson makes a brand-new

journey round Britain to see what has changed.Following (but not too closely) a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, by way of places that many people never get to at all, Bryson sets out to rediscover the wondrously beautiful, magnificently eccentric, endearingly unique country that he thought he knew but doesn't altogether recognize any more. Yet, despite Britain's occasional failings and more or less eternal bewilderments, Bill Bryson is still pleased to call our rainy island home. And not just because of the cream teas, a noble history, and an extra day off at Christmas.Once again, with his matchless homing instinct for the funniest and quirkiest, his unerring eye for the idiotic, the endearing, the ridiculous and the scandalous, Bryson gives us an acute and perceptive insight into all that is best and worst about Britain today. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Icons of England Bill Bryson (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Black Swan

Publisher:

Transworld Publishers Ltd

Pub Date:

30 Jun 2016

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback B-format paperback 368pp h198mm x w127mm x s23mm 251g B&W illustrations throughout B-format paperback ISBN13: 9781784161965 ISBN13: 978-1-78416-196-5 ISBN10: 1784161969 EAN: 9781784161965 x Description: This celebration of the English countryside does not only focus on the rolling green landscapes and magnificent monuments that set England apart from the rest of the world. Many of the contributors bring their own special touch, presenting a refreshingly eclectic variety of personal icons, from pub signs to seaside piers, from cattle grids to canal boats, and from village cricket to nimbies. First published as a lavish colour coffeetable book, this new expanded paperback edition has double the original number of contributions from many celebrities including Bill Bryson, Michael Palin, Eric Clapton, Bryan Ferry, Sebastian Faulks, Kate Adie, Kevin Spacey, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Richard Mabey , Simon Jenkins, John Sergeant, Benjamin Zephaniah, Joan Bakewell, Antony Beevor, Libby Purves, Jonathan Dimbleby, and many more: and a new preface by HRH Prince Charles. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mother Tongue: The Story of the English Language Bill Bryson (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Penguin Books Ltd

Publisher:

Penguin Books Ltd

Pub Date:

01 Oct 2009 (28 Apr 2016)

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback B-format paperback 288pp h199mm x w133mm x s19mm 204g B-format paperback ISBN13: 9780141040080 ISBN13: 978-0-14-104008-0 ISBN10: 0141040084 EAN: 9780141040080 This Product Replaces: 9780140143058 x Description: 'More than 300 million people in the world speak English and the rest, it sometimes seems, try to...'Only Bill Bryson could make a book about the English language so entertaining. With his boundless enthusiasm and restless eye for the absurd, this is his astonishing tour of English. From its mongrel origins to its status as the world's most-spoken tongue; its apparent simplicity to its deceptive complexity; its vibrant swearing to its uncertain spelling and pronunciation, Bryson covers all this as well as the many curious eccentricities that make it as maddening to learn as it is flexible to use. Bill Bryson's classic Mother Tongue is a highly readable and hilarious tale of how English came to be the world's language. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Troublesome Words Bill Bryson (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Penguin Books Ltd

Publisher:

Penguin Books Ltd

Pub Date:

01 Oct 2009 (28 Apr 2016)

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback B-format paperback 256pp h198mm x w129mm x s16mm 181g B-format paperback ISBN13: 9780141040394 ISBN13: 978-0-14-104039-4 ISBN10: 0141040394 EAN: 9780141040394 x Description: What is the difference between mean and median, blatant and flagrant, flout and flaunt? Is it whodunnit or whodunit? Do you know? Are you sure?With Troublesome Words, journalist and bestselling travel-writer Bill Bryson gives us a clear, concise and entertaining guide to the problems of English usage and spelling that has been an indispensable companion to those who work with the written word for over twenty years. So if you want to discover whether you should care about split infinitives, are cursed with an uncontrollable outbreak of commas or were wondering if that newsreader was right to say 'an historic day', this superb book is the place to find out. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Shakespeare Bill Bryson (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

William Collins

Publisher:

HarperCollins Publishers

Pub Date:

01 Apr 2008 (24 Mar 2016)

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback Unsewn / adhesive bound 272pp h198mm x w129mm x s17mm 210g ISBN13: 9780007197903 ISBN13: 978-0-00-719790-3 ISBN10: 000719790X EAN: 9780007197903 x Description: From bestselling author Bill Bryson comes this compelling short biography of William Shakespeare, our greatest dramatist and poet.

Examining centuries of myths, half-truths and downright lies, Bill Bryson makes sense of the man behind the masterpieces. As he leads us through the crowded streets of Elizabethan England, he brings to life the places and characters that inspired Shakespeare's work. Along the way he delights in the inventiveness of Shakespeare's language, which has given us so many of the indispensable words and phrases we use today, and celebrates the Bard's legacy to our literature, culture and history.

Drawing together information from a vast array of sources, this is a masterful account of the life and works of William Shakespeare, one of the most famous and most enigmatic people ever to have lived - not to mention a classic piece of Bill Bryson. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The English: A Field Guide Matt Rudd (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

William Collins

Publisher:

HarperCollins Publishers

Pub Date:

27 Mar 2014

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback Unsewn / adhesive bound 320pp h198mm x w129mm x s20mm 230g ISBN13: 9780007490479 ISBN13: 978-0-00-749047-9 ISBN10: 000749047X EAN: 9780007490479 x Description: A hilarious field guide to the world's most remarkable and unusual creatures: the English.

Thanks to television documentaries by Bruce Parry and David Attenborough, we are better acquainted with the hunting rituals of the San bushmen and the mating habits of Papua New Guinean tribes than we are with the everyday lives of that most peculiar of species - the English.

In 'The English: A Field Guide', Sunday Times journalist Matt Rudd, sets out to uncover what makes us, the English, tick. He will examine us in our natural habitats, starting with the living room and moving out to the kitchen, the garden, the commuter train, the office, the motorway, the high street, the sports stadium, the pub, club, bingo hall, balti house, beach and ending up in the bedroom.

Hilarious, warm-hearted and surprisingly enlightening, 'The English' shines a strong searchlight on us all. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The English: A Field Guide Matt Rudd (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

William Collins

Publisher:

HarperCollins Publishers

Pub Date:

09 May 2013

Publishing Status:

Out of print

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback Unsewn / adhesive bound 320pp h216mm x w135mm x s23mm 340g ISBN13: 9780007490455 ISBN13: 978-0-00-749045-5 ISBN10: 0007490453 EAN: 9780007490455 x Description: A hilarious field guide to the world's most remarkable and unusual creatures: the English.

Who are the English? What is this puzzling species? Where does it live? What are its habits? What does it eat? Why does it eat that? And why has it developed such unexotic mating rituals?

Join us on a journey deep into the natural habitat of the English, a journey to rival anything David Attenborough did with gorillas, a journey that begins on a sofa (and continues, unflinchingly, into the kitchen, out into the garden, off to work, down to the pub and then on to the beach... and the bedroom).

Matt Rudd's fearless anthropological approach leaves no cliche unturned in his attempt to portray the real English. Are we really a nation of binge-drinking, horse-meat-eating, grumbling, tailgating slobs or is there something altogether more beautiful to be found lurking behind the cypress leylandii?

This unprecedented adventure will take you to a DFS store, to Blackpool's third best B&B, to the coffee kiosk on platform one at 5.35 in the morning. You will step into a ready-meal curry factory, a naturist's back garden and an office of the future where they do somersaults into beanbags.

You will endure a night out in Wakefield, a night out in a queue and a night in Thetford Forest trying, unsuccessfully, to prove that dogging is an urban myth. You will watch Reading play football.

And all from the comfort of your own sofa. How English. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Tickling the English Dara O Briain (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Penguin Books Ltd

Publisher:

Penguin Books Ltd

Pub Date:

01 Apr 2010

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback B-format paperback 320pp h198mm x w129mm x s19mm 223g Integrated b&w maps, endpage collages B-format paperback ISBN13: 9780141046662 ISBN13: 978-0-14-104666-2 ISBN10: 014104666X EAN: 9780141046662 x Description: Nostalgia, identity, eccentricity, gin drinking and occasional violence... these are just some of the themes that stand-up comedian Dara O Briain explores in Tickling the English. O Briain moved to England many years ago, but when he takes his show on tour around the country - from deserted seaside towns and remote off-shore islands, to sprawling industrial cities and sleepy suburbs - it's clear to him that his adopted home is still a bit of an enigma. Why do the English pretend to be unhappy all the time?Why can't they accept they rank about 5th, in everything?And what's with all the fudge?But this Irishman loves a challenge; he's certainly got the gregarious personality and the sure-fire wit to bring down the barriers of that famous English reserve, and have a good old rummage inside. Swapping anecdotes with his audiences and spending time wandering in their hometowns, this nosy neighbour holds England up to the light while exploring some of the attitudes he brought over here with him too. As Dara goes door-to-door in search of England in this part tour diary, part travelogue, the result is an affectionate, hilarious and often eye-opening journey through the Sceptred Isle. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mustn't Grumble Joe Bennett (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Scribner

Publisher:

Simon & Schuster Ltd

Pub Date:

03 Jul 2006

Publishing Status:

Out of print

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback Trade paperback (UK) 288pp h234mm x w153mm 382g maps ISBN13: 9780743276276 ISBN13: 978-0-7432-7627-6 ISBN10: 0743276272 x Description: Fifteen years ago, Joe Bennett left England for a holiday. Now it's time to come back. But how is the England of his memory different from the England of the motorway? Identikit High Streets, imported cheeriness ('Welcome to Sunny Grimsby!'), chicken tikka poker machine pubs things aren't what they used to be. But the longer Joe travels, the more he wonders whether things were ever what they used to be in England. Even a century ago, H. V. Morton, the nation's most celebrated eulogiser, was "In Search of England". Criss-crossing the country by varying means of transport and with varying degrees of enthusiasm, Joe Bennett delivers a dazzlingly funny and poignant portrait of his homeland - part love letter, part eulogy and part diatribe, it is a wonderful follow-up to the acclaimed "Land of Two Halves" and establishes him as one of our most engaging travel writers. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Pies and Prejudice: In Search of the North Stuart Maconie (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Ebury Press

Publisher:

Ebury Publishing

Pub Date:

01 Feb 2007

Publishing Status:

Out of print

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback Trade paperback (UK) 352pp h214mm x w134mm x s26mm 375g Trade paperback (UK) ISBN13: 9780091910228 ISBN13: 978-0-09-191022-8 ISBN10: 0091910226 x Description: 'My name is Stuart Maconie, and I am from the North Of England. Some time ago, I was standing in my kitchen, rustling up a Sunday brunch for some very hungover, very Northern mates who were 'down' for the weekend. One of them was helping me out and, recipe book in hand, asked "where are the sun-dried tomatoes?" "They're behind the cappuccino maker," I replied. Silence fell. We slowly met each other's gaze. We did not say anything. We did not need to. Each read the other's unspoken thought: we had become those kinds of people, the kind of people who had sundried tomatoes and cappuccino makers, the kind of people who did Sunday brunch. In other words: southerners.' A northerner in exile, stateless and confused, hearing rumours of Harvey Nichols in Leeds and Maseratis in Wilmslow, Stuart goes in search of The North. Delving into his own past, it is a riotously funny journey in search of where the cliches end and the truth begins.

He travels from Wigan Pier to Blackpool Tower, the Bigg Market in Newcastle to the daffodil-laden Lake District in search of his own Northern Soul, encountering along the way an exotic cast of Scousers, Scallies, pie-eating Woolly-backs, topless Geordies, mad-for-it Mancs, Yorkshire nationalists and brothers in southern exile. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Adventures on the High Teas: In Search of Middle England Stuart Maconie (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Ebury Press

Publisher:

Ebury Publishing

Pub Date:

04 Mar 2010

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback B-format paperback 352pp h198mm x w126mm x s22mm 239g B-format paperback ISBN13: 9780091926519 ISBN13: 978-0-09-192651-9 ISBN10: 0091926513 EAN: 9780091926519

x Description: Everyone talks about 'Middle England'. Sometimes they mean something bad, like a lynch mob of Daily Mail readers, and sometimes they mean something good, like a pint of ale in a sleepy Cotswold village in summer twilight. But just where and what is Middle England? Stuart Maconie didn't know either, so he packed his Thermos and sandwiches and set off to find out...Is Middle England about tradition and decency or closed minds and bigotry? Is it maypoles and evensong, or flooded market towns and binge drinkers in the park? And is Slough really as bad as Ricky Gervais and John Betjeman make out? From Shakespeare to JK Rowling, Vaughan Williams to Craig David, William Morris to B&Q, Stuart Maconie leads the expedition, with plenty of stop-offs for tea and scones, to discover the truth. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This is London: Life and Death in the World City Ben Judah (Author) Series:

Edition:

Imprint:

Picador

Publisher:

Pan Macmillan

Pub Date:

11 Aug 2016

Publishing Status:

Active

Published in: United Kingdom Paperback / softback B-format paperback 352pp h197mm x w130mm x s26mm 353g ISBN13: 9781447276272 ISBN13: 978-1-4472-7627-2 ISBN10: 1447276272 EAN: 9781447276272 x Description: This is London in the eyes of its beggars, bankers, coppers, gangsters, carers, witch-doctors and sex workers. This is London in the voices of Arabs, Afghans, Nigerians, Poles, Romanians and Russians.This is London as you've never seen it before.Longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction 2016Shortlisted for the Ryszard Kapuscinski Award for Literary Reportage 2019'An eye-opening investigation into the hidden immigrant life of the city' Sunday Times'Full of nuggets of unexpected information about the lives of others . . . It recalls the journalism of Orwell' Financial Times'Ben Judah grabs hold of London and shakes out its secrets' The Economist _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________