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Bradt Guide Eccentric Britain
Ref: BRA002
A delightful romp around the British Isles searching out the mad marquess, the eccentric earl, the barmy baron, and the daft duke and gathering a fair collection of crackpot inventors, weird adventurers and fascinatingly and not to mention insanely curious customs along the way. All of which make this rainy little island home to that remarkable breed of individual – the British eccentric.
This expanded book still doesn't tell you where Stonehenge is, but it does tell you where ten spookier stone circles are where there will be no crowds, no admission charges and no parking problems... This is a book for the intelligent, humorous, curious tourist who doesn't go with the crowd. It is also a great armchair read that has been known to have readers weeping with mirth at the weird ways of the British.
• More interviews with totally off-the-wall Brits
• An encyclopaedia of the nuttiest, looniest and ever-so-endearing eccentricities to be found in Britain. The best-ever listings of the strangest events with full how-to-get-there information.
Well-known sites covered - with a twist - but offering much more beyond the obvious.
An ideal gift for friends and relatives visiting Britain and anyone who appreciates what makes Britain different.
Book Reviews
"A wonderful barmy guide"
-- The Daily Telegraph
"The ultimate guide to some of Britain's most idiosyncratic sights, curious ceremonies and intriguing moments."
-- Best of British
"Finally a guidebook has been published which celebrates the slightly less strait-laced side of the British Isles. Written by Benedict le Vay, Eccentric Britain covers all aspects of our weird ways. For day trips this book is a must; you can visit Nowhere in Kent and drink at the Pub With No Name in Hampshire. Rumour has it there's even a pub in Portsmouth called the Jolly Taxpayer. Now that really is weird."
-- The Times
"There are a great many people around the world who look at Mr Bean and believe they are seeing a true portrait of your average Brit. Now, we all know that this isn't so. But just how close we come to being a nation of Beans is made clear by this new guide to Eccentric Britain. The book grew from a series of newspaper articles. Urged to find out more about our stranger manners and customs, sports, festivals and even buildings, Le Vay spent five years gathering his material. The resulting catalogue of oddities is so impressive that I won't be surprised to see EU commissioners reaching for their rule books to question whether such a nation should remain within the Union. It includes such eccentricities as the Walrus Dip, a fancy-dress swim near Llanelli on Boxing Day, and the man in Bristol whose house and everything in it dates from 1937. This book you armchair, but, should you feel the need to see it for yourself, brief practical details will help you on your way."
-- Sunday Times
About this Destination
Britain's wealth of bizarre buildings, unbelievable customs, strange rituals, daft sports, etc that you can visit, witness or endure should be internationally acclaimed. Tourist guides sometimes touch on strange festivals, but offer no background or depth into this fascinating field, leaving the reader dissatisfied and of course they exclude Britain's great store of private or past eccentrics. Thus they miss out on much that is fascinating or amusing. Here is the complete guide to both the ongoing eccentricities and history of Britain's oddest eccentrics, and reportage of strange private goings-on and interviews with the peculiar people involved. It is eccentric in that it is neither pure travelogue nor pure description, tackling subjects in themes rather than as a geographical tour
Author's Note, by Benedict le Vay
Updated 7 June, 2005
I didn't know what I'd started with my first book about Eccentric Britain, now completely updated. People have written in by the hundreds about their nettle-eating contests, crackpot inventors and mad rectors and it's been a mammoth job to check and collate all this. Of course it's subjective and some true eccentrics are almost insulted by being thought unusual. Also, if you grow up in a village (for example) where people dance round outside the pub waving hankies and bashing each other with sticks with inflated pigs' bladders on them, with bells on the trousers, then you consider that normal. I certainly did, but of course anyone else considers it highly odd. This book tries to get under the skin of British eccentrics, but serves as a practical guide too.
I do feel that tourists can find Britain crowded and expensive. This book gives the intelligent traveller things to find, watch and do that are utterly different, uncrowded and inexpensive if not free. Just one day out following the suggested trails of the dippy, daft and different will not only save you more than the cost of the book (compared to the cost of going to some theme-parky dark ride or over-exposed tourist attraction), but also gently guide you to the true kernel of what makes this place tick.
Benedict le Vay is a features editor on a leading British newspaper. He spends his spare time researching zany facts about the British and their way of life. He is also the author of Bradt’s Eccentric London, Eccentric Edinburgh and latest in the range, Eccentric Oxford.
£13.99
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