The English. A Portrait of a People

by JeremyPaxman (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1999

  $3.25

  Not so long ago, writes Jeremy Paxman, the English were polite, unexcitable, reserved, and had hot-water bottles instead of a sex-life . Today the end of empire has killed off the Bulldog Breed - fearless and philistine, safe in taxis and invaluable in shipwrecks - and transformed the great public schools. Princess Diana was mourned with the effusive emotionalism of an Italian saint. Leader-writers in The Times even praise the sexual skills of English lovers ...So what are the defining features of Englishness ? How can a country of football hooligans have such an astonishingly low murder rate? Does the nation's sense of itself extend to millions of black, Asian and other immigrant Britons? Is it grounded in arrogant, nostalgic fantasy or can it form the basis for building a realistic future within Europe? To answer these crucial questions, Paxman looks for clues in the English language, literature, luke-warm religion and curiously passionless devotion to cricket. He explores attitudes to Catholics, the countryside, intellectuals, food and the French. And he brings together insights from novelists, sociologists and gentleman farmers; the editor of This England magazine (launched in 1967 with the slogan as refreshing as a cup of tea ); a banker enthusiastic about the English vice of flagellation; and a team at the OED looking for the first occurrence of phrases like bad hair day and the dog's bollocks .

• Used

  Paperback
  2007

  $3.25

  This is a brilliantly researched, hugely entertaining study of the English by Britain's best-known broadcaster. In the light of membership of Europe, the loss of an Empire and a devolved United Kingdom, the English no longer know who they are. Covering every aspect of the English identity (from cricket to Cumberland sausages, St George to Bernie Grant, the Book of Common Prayer to Cool Britannia , John Bull to football thugs) and combining popular history with incisive interviews, Jeremy Paxman provides some fascinating and timely answers.

• Used

  Hardcover
  1998

  $3.25

• New

  Paperback
  2007

  $15.55

  In The English Jeremy Paxman sets out to find about the English. Not the British overall, not the Scots, not the Irish or Welsh, but the English. Why do they seem so unsure of who they are? Jeremy Paxman is to many the embodiment of Englishness yet even he is sometimes forced to ask: who or what exactly are the English? And in setting about addressing this most vexing of questions, Paxman discovers answers to a few others. Like: Why do the English actually enjoy feeling persecuted? What is behind the English obsession with games? How did they acquire their odd attitudes to sex and to food? Where did they get their extraordinary capacity for hypocrisy? Covering history, attitudes to foreigners, sport, stereotypyes, language and more, The English brims over with stories and anecdotes that provide a fascinating portrait of a nation and its people. Intelligent, well-written, informative and funny...A book to chew on, dip into, quote from and exploit in arguments . (Andrew Marr, Observer ). Bursting with good things . ( Daily Telegraph ). Jeremy Paxman is a journalist, best known for his work presenting Newsnight and University Challenge. His books include Empire , On Royalty , The English and The Political Animal . He lives in Oxfordshire.