England, Their England

An hilarious account of life in England in the 1930s from a Scots viewpoint as Donald Cameron travels downSouth and joins in all th English pursuits such as cricket and fox-hunting! Donald Cameron, the principal character, a young Scotsman, is commissioned to write a book on the outsider’s view of the English. He sets about his task with all the enthusiasm of an “innocent abroad” and soon gets caught up in the foibles of English social life. On the way he encounters an array of richly comical characters - including civil servants, newspaper editors, minor poets, a foul-tempered pseudo-Frenchman, a glamorous film star; and experiences some equally droll situations - the country house weekend which includes a visit to a fox-hunt, a meeting of the League of Nations, a farcical election rally, a grim Christmas holiday aboard a cargo ship and the most famous fictional cricket match in literature in its entirety, the last ball of which takes over four hilarious pages to catch! This satire of English eccentricity has become a classic of 20th century literature and is almost more relevant today with Scottish devolution as when first written. Those who enjoy writers such as Bill Bryson will greatly enjoy England, their England.