English: A Story of Marmite, Queuing and Weather

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Ben Fogle. English: A Story of Marmite, Queuing and Weather

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CONTENTS

PROLOGUE

INTRODUCTION

WHATEVER THE WEATHER

THE SHIPPING FORECAST

HEROIC FAILURES

STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM

MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN

WELLIES, WAX, BARBOURS AND BOWLERS

THE SILLY SEASON

OO-ER, MISSUS, IT’S LORD BUCKETHEAD

RAINING CATS AND DOGS

THE QUEEN’S SANDMAN AND SWANMAN

I’M SORRY, I HAVEN’T A QUEUE

GRUB

ENGLAND’S GREEN AND PLEASANT LANDS

THE WORD

TEA AND SYMPATHY

CONCLUSION

PICTURE SECTION

INDEX

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

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TITLE PAGE

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I am no social scientist or historian. I have no academic credentials in ‘Englishness’; in fact the subject has already been tackled by people far more learned and academic than myself – both Jeremy Paxman and Kate Fox have written brilliantly about Englishness. But what I do have is a burning passion, a drive and, most importantly, a pride in my identity. I love to celebrate this identity in all its quirkiness.

Cheese rolling is a good example of a national trait that rather accurately describes the character of Englishness – eccentricity. The dictionary definitions are pretty concise: according to the Collins English Dictionary, ‘Eccentricity is unusual behaviour that other people consider strange.’ The Oxford English Dictionary, meanwhile, defines ‘eccentric’ as ‘(of a person or their behaviour) unconventional and slightly strange.’

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