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English: A Story of Marmite, Queuing and Weather
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2019
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English: A Story of Marmite, Queuing and Weather
Ben Fogle
What makes the English English? Is it their eccentricity, their passionate love (or, indeed, hatred) of Marmite – or is it something less easily defined?Beginning at the top of a muddy Gloucestershire slope at the Coopers Hill cheese-rolling contest and traversing a landscape of lawns and queues, coastlines and sporting arenas, Ben Fogle takes us on a journey through the peculiarly English: a country of wax jackets, cricket, boat races and jellied eels, by way of national treasures such as the shipping forecast, fish and chips and the Wellington boot. Not to mention the Dunkirk spirit of relentless optimism in the face of adversity, be it the heroic failure of Captain Scott’s doomed Antarctic expedition, or simply the perennial hope for better weather.The archetypal Englishman – lover of labradors and Land Rovers yet holder of two passports – Ben applauds all things quintessentially English while also paying tribute to the history, culture and ideas adopted with such gusto that they have become part of the fabric of the country. Written with Ben’s trademark warmth and wit, this is a light-hearted yet touching tribute to all things English.
(#uc160ba66-cd37-5080-8e25-3dc7c00fd947)
COPYRIGHT (#uc160ba66-cd37-5080-8e25-3dc7c00fd947)
William Collins
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
WilliamCollinsBooks.com (http://www.williamcollinsbooks.com)
This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2017
Text copyright © Ben Fogle 2017
Photographs © Individual copyright holders
Cover photograph © Simon Warren
Ben Fogle asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008222284
Ebook Edition © October 2017 ISBN: 9780008222260
Version: 2018-02-21
CONTENTS
COVER (#uced949c8-d306-57ae-87ff-73dc5649bac3)
TITLE PAGE (#u4f7e0814-65c0-5bff-97f0-12f99f2a172e)
COPYRIGHT (#u14c58cd9-37f4-53e9-bbdc-79a378b8c310)
PROLOGUE (#u6af7cc78-cffd-5c06-a71b-dfd81277db08)
INTRODUCTION: LIVING ENGLISHLY (#uf8a8644f-5b99-545e-9c33-d66080cac023)
Chapter One: WHATEVER THE WEATHER (#u3ab76df2-536b-5d22-9ac9-d6d85cc4afab)
Chapter Two: THE SHIPPING FORECAST (#udf5bbc17-7454-56df-a1d7-616034df0d26)
Chapter Three: HEROIC FAILURES (#u2da6fd3f-7111-59e9-9ec8-820c4b831c0e)
Chapter Four: STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five: MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six: WELLIES, WAX, BARBOURS AND BOWLERS (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven: THE SILLY SEASON (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight: OO-ER, MISSUS, IT’S LORD BUCKETHEAD (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine: RAINING CATS AND DOGS (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten: THE QUEEN’S SANDMAN AND SWANMAN (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven: I’M SORRY, I HAVEN’T A QUEUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve: GRUB (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen: ENGLAND’S GREEN AND PLEASANT LANDS (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen: THE WORD (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen: TEA AND SYMPATHY (#litres_trial_promo)
CONCLUSION (#litres_trial_promo)
PICTURE SECTION (#litres_trial_promo)
INDEX (#litres_trial_promo)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (#litres_trial_promo)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (#litres_trial_promo)
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER (#litres_trial_promo)
PROLOGUE (#uc160ba66-cd37-5080-8e25-3dc7c00fd947)
There was a hubbub of excited chatter as, clutching steaming cups of tea, the women gathered around a series of small tables to admire the spoils of war. The Great Yorkshire Show had just finished and the crochet, patchwork, flower arranging and cakes had all ‘come home’. There was a general chatter of approval. The room was decorated with bunting and it had the air of a village fete. This was Jam and Jerusalem.
I was in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, for the weekly gathering of the Spa Sweethearts Women’s Institute. The WI, as it is known, was formed in 1915 to revitalize communities and encourage women to produce food in the absence of their menfolk during the First World War. Since then it has grown to become the largest voluntary women’s organization in the UK, with more than six thousand groups and nearly a quarter of a million members.
The Queen herself is a member, and the WI, in my humble opinion, understands better than any other organization how the country works. Always polite, it has a reputation for no-nonsense, straight talking. The chairwoman of the WI’s public affairs committee, Marylyn Haines-Evans, recently said, ‘If the WI were a political party, we would be the party for common sense.’ If anyone understands the quixotic essence of Englishness, it is the ladies who attend these regional WI gatherings.
Ben Fogle
What makes the English English? Is it their eccentricity, their passionate love (or, indeed, hatred) of Marmite – or is it something less easily defined?Beginning at the top of a muddy Gloucestershire slope at the Coopers Hill cheese-rolling contest and traversing a landscape of lawns and queues, coastlines and sporting arenas, Ben Fogle takes us on a journey through the peculiarly English: a country of wax jackets, cricket, boat races and jellied eels, by way of national treasures such as the shipping forecast, fish and chips and the Wellington boot. Not to mention the Dunkirk spirit of relentless optimism in the face of adversity, be it the heroic failure of Captain Scott’s doomed Antarctic expedition, or simply the perennial hope for better weather.The archetypal Englishman – lover of labradors and Land Rovers yet holder of two passports – Ben applauds all things quintessentially English while also paying tribute to the history, culture and ideas adopted with such gusto that they have become part of the fabric of the country. Written with Ben’s trademark warmth and wit, this is a light-hearted yet touching tribute to all things English.
(#uc160ba66-cd37-5080-8e25-3dc7c00fd947)
COPYRIGHT (#uc160ba66-cd37-5080-8e25-3dc7c00fd947)
William Collins
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
WilliamCollinsBooks.com (http://www.williamcollinsbooks.com)
This eBook first published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2017
Text copyright © Ben Fogle 2017
Photographs © Individual copyright holders
Cover photograph © Simon Warren
Ben Fogle asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008222284
Ebook Edition © October 2017 ISBN: 9780008222260
Version: 2018-02-21
CONTENTS
COVER (#uced949c8-d306-57ae-87ff-73dc5649bac3)
TITLE PAGE (#u4f7e0814-65c0-5bff-97f0-12f99f2a172e)
COPYRIGHT (#u14c58cd9-37f4-53e9-bbdc-79a378b8c310)
PROLOGUE (#u6af7cc78-cffd-5c06-a71b-dfd81277db08)
INTRODUCTION: LIVING ENGLISHLY (#uf8a8644f-5b99-545e-9c33-d66080cac023)
Chapter One: WHATEVER THE WEATHER (#u3ab76df2-536b-5d22-9ac9-d6d85cc4afab)
Chapter Two: THE SHIPPING FORECAST (#udf5bbc17-7454-56df-a1d7-616034df0d26)
Chapter Three: HEROIC FAILURES (#u2da6fd3f-7111-59e9-9ec8-820c4b831c0e)
Chapter Four: STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Five: MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Six: WELLIES, WAX, BARBOURS AND BOWLERS (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seven: THE SILLY SEASON (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eight: OO-ER, MISSUS, IT’S LORD BUCKETHEAD (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nine: RAINING CATS AND DOGS (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Ten: THE QUEEN’S SANDMAN AND SWANMAN (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eleven: I’M SORRY, I HAVEN’T A QUEUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twelve: GRUB (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen: ENGLAND’S GREEN AND PLEASANT LANDS (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen: THE WORD (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen: TEA AND SYMPATHY (#litres_trial_promo)
CONCLUSION (#litres_trial_promo)
PICTURE SECTION (#litres_trial_promo)
INDEX (#litres_trial_promo)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (#litres_trial_promo)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR (#litres_trial_promo)
ABOUT THE PUBLISHER (#litres_trial_promo)
PROLOGUE (#uc160ba66-cd37-5080-8e25-3dc7c00fd947)
There was a hubbub of excited chatter as, clutching steaming cups of tea, the women gathered around a series of small tables to admire the spoils of war. The Great Yorkshire Show had just finished and the crochet, patchwork, flower arranging and cakes had all ‘come home’. There was a general chatter of approval. The room was decorated with bunting and it had the air of a village fete. This was Jam and Jerusalem.
I was in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, for the weekly gathering of the Spa Sweethearts Women’s Institute. The WI, as it is known, was formed in 1915 to revitalize communities and encourage women to produce food in the absence of their menfolk during the First World War. Since then it has grown to become the largest voluntary women’s organization in the UK, with more than six thousand groups and nearly a quarter of a million members.
The Queen herself is a member, and the WI, in my humble opinion, understands better than any other organization how the country works. Always polite, it has a reputation for no-nonsense, straight talking. The chairwoman of the WI’s public affairs committee, Marylyn Haines-Evans, recently said, ‘If the WI were a political party, we would be the party for common sense.’ If anyone understands the quixotic essence of Englishness, it is the ladies who attend these regional WI gatherings.
