How England Made The English: From Hedgerows To Heathrow
Author: Harry Mount
Stock information
General Fields
: 35.00 AUD
: 9780670919130
: Penguin Books Ltd
: Viking
:
: 0.54
: 01 March 2012
: 222mm X 144mm X 34mm
: United Kingdom
: 39.99
: 01 July 2012
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: books
Special Fields
: Harry Mount
: Hardback
: 812
: 368
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9780670919130
Description
For all their sophistication, Roman roads are responsible for the narrowness of our train seats today. The first Victorian trains were built to the same width as horse-drawn wagons; they, in turn, were designed to fit the ruts left in the road by Roman chariots. In this fascinating and witty book, Harry Mount explains how our national characteristics - our sense of humour, our hobbies, our favourite foods and our behaviour with the opposite sex - are all defined by our nation's extraordinary geography, geology, climate and weather. You will learn how we would be as freezing cold as Siberia without the Gulf Stream; why we drive on the left-hand side of the road; why the Midlands became the home of the British curry. It identifies the materials that make England, too: the faint pink Aberdeen granite of kerbstones; that precise English mix of air temperature, smell and light that hits you the moment you touch down at Heathrow.