The Kingdom by the Sea

After eleven years living as an American in London, Paul Theroux set out to travel clockwise round the coast and find out what Britain and the British are really like. It was 1982, the summer of the Falklands War and the royal baby, and the ideal time, he found, to surprise the British into talking about themselves. The result is vivid and absolutely riveting reading. One of Theroux's golden talents, perhaps because he is American and therefore classless in British eyes, is the ability to chat up and get on with all sorts . . .