Wish You Were Here: England on Sea [Lingua Inglese] - Rilegato

Travis Elborough

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0340935103 ISBN 13: 9780340935101

Casa editrice: Sceptre, 2010

Riassunto

The seaside, like football and the railways, is a distinctly English and largely nineteenth century invention. At the Festival of Britain in 1951, a replica of a seafront represented hope and modernity - once the preserve of the sickly elite, the seaside had become one of the great English egalitarian institutions. But when the advent of cheap flights allowed us to go and see how the rest of the world did it - with better weather and sandier beaches - our boarding houses and bandstands slowly rotted away. As the economy forced a reassessment of our holidaying habits, resorts from Morecambe to Bournemouth enjoyed a renaissance. Capitalising on the uniquely English combination of irony and pride, the English Riviera has been reborn. In many ways, our national character has been defined by our relationship with the seaside - and in tracing its development, we can see how our ideas about health, welath and happiness evolved. Our aspirations and snobbery, our attitudes to sex, our keen sense of fair play, our chequered relationship with national pride and our ability to laugh at ourselves have all been played out against a backdrop of stormy skies, pebbly beaches and sticks of rock. The seaside is the place we go to get better, to let our hair down, to downsize, to retire, to take drugs and to hide. Ranging from Agatha Christie to the Prince Regent via Billy Butlin and Brighton Rock, Travis Elborough explores how a coastline peppered with quasi-Oriental piers makes us quintessentially English. Erudite, charming and surprising, Wish You Were Here is a gloriously unorthodox social history of a nation of islanders.

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Recensione

'Elborough is an English nostalgist in the mode of John Betjeman... as a cultural companion [Elborough] is a terrific companion... Wish You Were Here is quirky, chatty, charming and optimistic - an ideal read for the English beach.' (Frances Wilson, Sunday Times)

'Meticulously researched and trenchantly expressed, Wish You Were Here is as bright and breezy as a trip in a pleasure steamer.' (Daily Mail)

'Elborough's overview of our lasting love of fish and chips, Brighton rock and paddling is the perfect beach book.' (Marie Claire )

For THE LONG PLAYER GOODBYE:

'He's got a happy knack of stuffing sentences with facts, colour and incident' (Scotland on Sunday)

'Reassuring air of cultural authority... impressive depth of perspective... admirably persuasive' (Independent on Sunday )

'Elborough is a charming, funny and frequently fascinating guide' (Daily Telegraph)

'Wonderful book... a great thundering roar of nostalgia for the LP record.' (Spectator)

'Elborough has the passion of a true enthusiast... but he's also an indefatigable researcher, who has somehow seen a clear path through the vast amount of material to write a book that reads easily and well but also wholly coherently. Richly enjoyable.' (Mail on Sunday)

'Highly entertaining' (Independent)

'Lovingly researched' (TLS )

On THE BUS WE LOVED:

'A charming account of the capital's enduring affair with its favourite piece of transport.' (Daily Mail)

'An undiluted delight - witty and whimsical' (Daily Telegraph)

'A pocket-sized production as sleek as the vehicle it elegises.' --(London Review of Books on THE BUS WE LOVED)

L'autore

Descending from a line that pioneered pirate-themed eateries and shell-shaded electric lamps, Travis grew up in Worthing on the Sussex coast. It is quite hard to grow up in a place where almost everyone else has gone to die.

He is the author of two acclaimed books, The Bus We Loved and The Long-Player Goodbye. He lives in London.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Sceptre
• Data di pubblicazione: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0340935103
• ISBN 13: 9780340935101
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 256