What kind of country is England today? What does it mean to be English? Are we hungry for change or seeking old certainties? Join Stuart Maconie on an enlightening, entertaining journey through England, from Bristol’s Banksy to Durham’s beaches, from Cotswolds corduroy to Stoke’s oatcakes. As his guide, Maconie walks in the footsteps of J.B. Priestley’s classic travelogue, English Journey, to explore our national identity and how it has evolved over the last century. In the book he doesn't shy away from some of the less appealing parts of the city but writes with a genuine warmth about the towns and the people he find there.

It felt like there was a real difference between the night and day. In the evening you couldn't get a table at a restaurant but in the day you would be looking at shops that had probably been doing alright a few years before but were now closed."

Join our email club...

Maconie, Stuart (31 July 2017). "I'm a Marxist – we are misunderstood on both the left and right". New Statesman . Retrieved 22 September 2017. The Full English: Sunbeam Rapiers being made in Coventry in 1955. Photograph: Bert Hardy/Picture Post/Hulton/Getty This doesn't make this a bad book - it's not. It was really interesting to see Maconie struggling with the less pleasant and politically acceptable aspects of English Journey - a bit of a case of never meet, or in this case re-trace the journey of, your hero. And unlike Priestley, who didn't even make much of an effort on his visit, Maconie quite likes Swindon, for which I will forgive him a lot. We also get some of Maconie's excellent interactions with and overhearing of random people in the locations he visits, plus his often enticing descriptions of the food he eats on his travels. (To be fair, he has a huge advantage here over Priestley, as the food is so much better in England than it was in 90 years ago. Apart from one hotel, the places Maconie stays are far better too.)

In Coventry, for instance, he reflects on the new energy and optimism of a city whose trajectory was radically redefined by the Blitz while recalling the mid-1970s “reconciliation” concert for which Tangerine Dream, the splendid German electronic trio, played a concert. (It is preserved on YouTube.) Headlines welcomed the startled performers with the declaration: “35 years ago, they came with bombs! Now, they come with synthesisers.” Ninety years after JB Priestley’s forgotten classic, English Journey, Maconie undertakes his own inventory of the English and Englishness, with Priestley’s 1930s’ itinerary as guide. How does the country look today, freshly unmoored from its European neighbours and still emerging from the doubt and insecurities of Covid? Re-energised? Hungry for change? Or moribund, dazed and desperate for old certainties? I didn't realise until I arrived that 'Stoke-on-Trent' is an abstraction. It was one of the biggest mysteries of all the chapters in the book and I was fascinated by it. I thought this was an excellent book and I'll have to read JB Priestley's English Journey to see how this book compares with the original.Stuart Maconie's radio show with Mark Radcliffe on BBC Radio 6Music is in my opinion probably the best show on the radio, it's very funny and they play some great tunes. Maconie can be entertaining and informative and he's written some great books. Sadly though for me "The Full English: A Journey in Search of a Country and it's People" didn't work for me which is disappointing as I always look forward to a new book from Stu. The People's Songs Gallery". British Music Experience.com. Archived from the original on 14 May 2013 . Retrieved 12 July 2013. Stuart Maconie's fantastic new book, 'Hope & Glory: The Days That Made Britain', is in the shops now The best part by far is towards the end, when he reaches Lincolnshire and Norfolk. Here Maconie is more on form, particularly on Skegness - even though neither he nor Priestley visits, he passes through on the train and reminisces about his childhood visits to various Butlins holiday camps - and Boston which must be one of the strangest towns in England for reasons he describes well. He's also excellent in Norwich, though he does sing the praises of UEA's brutalist Lasdun Wall without pointing out that it is a maintenance nightmare and falling apart.