Stuart Maconie : Adventures On The High Teas

The Sunday Times bestselling author of Pies and Prejudice goes in search of middle England

Everyone talks about ‘Middle England’. Sometimes they mean something bad, like a lynch mob of Daily Mail readers, and sometimes they mean something good, like a pint of ale in a sleepy Cotswold village in summer twilight. But just where and what is Middle England? Stuart Maconie didn’t know either, so he packed his Thermos and sandwiches and set off to find out…

Is Middle England about tradition and decency or closed minds and bigotry? Is it maypoles and evensong, or flooded market towns and binge drinkers in the park. Stands the church clock still at ten to three, and is there honey still for tea? And is Slough really as bad as Ricky Gervais and John Betjeman make out? Does Middle England hark all the way back to Arthurian legend and Merrie England, or is it a modern concept borne of Top Gear and Princess Diana? From Shakespeare to JK Rowling, Vaughan Williams to Craig David, William Morris to B&Q, Morte D’Arthur to Midsomer Murders, Stuart Maconie leads the expedition, with plenty of stop-offs for tea and pastries, to discover the truth.

Reviews

Stuart Maconie discovers whether Middle England is a place or a feeling... all described with his usual charm and wit. - Lonely Planet

Maconies gift is finding beauty in the most unexpected places and after reading this youll want to call up Google maps and plan your own journey. Its a wonderfully enriching read. - News of the World

Taken as a whole, the book amounts to a time capsule of England as it is now; it is, in its quirky offbeat way, a celebration of this countrys extra-ordinary capacity to accomodate change while remaining essentially the same. - Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

It is these juxtapositions of the high and the low, the hip and the furiously unfashionable, or, if you like, the sublime and the ridiculous, that make Maconie such an entertaining tour guide. - Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday

Praise for Other Titles by this Author

Pies and Prejudice: Stuart Maconie is the best thing to come out of Wigan since the A58 to Bolton - Peter Kay

Pies and Prejudice: An heir to Alan Bennett … stirring and rather wonderful - Anthony Quinn, Sunday Times

Pies and Prejudice: Funnier than Bill Bryson - Metro

Cider with Roadies: Effortlessly articulate - The Times

Author Biography

Stuart Maconie is a journalist and writer, and is familiar to millions as a TV and radio presenter. He is the host of Stuart Maconies Critical List on BBC Radio 2 and Freak Zone on Radio 6, and has written and presented dozens of other shows on BBC Radio. He presents the DVD Collection on BBC Four and is a regular panellist on Never Mind the Buzzcocks on BBC2. As well as a popping up in Peter Kays Phoenix Nights, he is a favourite on hit nostalgia TV series such as the BBCs I-the 1970s. His other books include the acclaimed official biographies of both Blur and James. He can name GQ Man of the Year and Sony Awards Radio Broadcaster of the Year amongst his accolades. He lives in Birmingham and is happiest when fell-walking with his dog, Muffin.

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