Finding England

Not even the English are keen to explain what England actually is. Holger Ehling takes us on a journey to iconic places, from London to Jarrow, from Stonehenge to the Eden Project, from Shakespeare's Globe to the marvels of Blackpool, pondering along the way about what it is that makes these places so quintessentially English.

---

It is easy to find England on a map - it is part of that conspicuous thing in the North Sea, just off the French coast. It gets trickier once you arrive: Not even the English are keen to explain what England actually is. Why do the English eat what they eat, why do they do what they do? And why do many across the world still believe that England and Englishness is something to aspire to, something to adore? Holger Ehling takes us on a journey to iconic places, from London to Jarrow, from Stonehenge to the Eden Project, from Shakespeare's Globe to the marvels of Blackpool, pondering along the way about what it is that makes these places so quintessentially English. We will meet royals and beggars, con-artists and real artists, heroes and villains, English roses and the legacy of the Empire Windrush.