 First edition (UK) | |
| Author | Bill Bryson |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Non-fiction |
| Publisher | Doubleday (UK) William Morrow (US) Reed Books (Canada) |
Publication date | 1995 |
| ISBN | 0-552-99600-9 |
| OCLC | 60305303 |
Notes from a Small Island is a humorous travel book on Great Britain by American author Bill Bryson, first published in 1995.
Bryson wrote Notes from a Small Island when he decided to move back to his native United States, but wanted to take one final trip around Great Britain, which had been his home for over twenty years. Bryson covers all corners of the island, observing and talking to people from as far afield as Exeter in the West Country to John o' Groats at the north-eastern tip of Scotland's mainland. During this trip he insisted on using only public transport, but failed on two occasions: in Oxfordshire and on the journey to John o' Groats he had to rent a car. He also re-visits Virginia Water where he worked at the Holloway Sanatorium when he first came to Britain in 1973. (He met his future wife while employed at Holloway.)
On his way, Bryson provides historical information on the places he visits, and expresses amazement at the heritage in Britain, stating that there were 445,000 listed historical buildings, 12,000 medieval churches, 1,500,000 acres (610,000 ha) of common land, 120,000 miles (190,000 km) of footpaths and public rights-of-way, 600,000 known sites of archaeological interest and that in his Yorkshire village at that time, there were more 17th century buildings than in the whole of North America.
Bryson also pays homage to the humble self-effacing fortitude of British people under trying times, such as the world wars and Great Depression, as well as the various peculiarities of Britain and British English (such as not understanding, on his first arrival, what a counterpane was, and assuming it was something to do with a window. It is a British English word that means quilt.) Bryson also recalls first going into an English tobacconist's and hearing the man in front of him ask for "Twenty Number 6", and assuming that everything in Britain was ordered by number. (A popular brand at the time was Players No. 6, and in British English it is usual to ask for 'twenty' (cigarettes), meaning a packet of them.)
In an opinion poll organised for World Book Day in 2003, Notes from a Small Island was voted by BBC Radio 4 listeners as the book which best represented England. [1]
The book was adapted for Carlton Television in 1998 and appeared as a six-part 30-minute documentary broadcast on ITV from 10 January to 14 February 1999. The book is also available in audio book format.
Heavily abridged, the book was read in five fifteen-minute episodes by Kerry Shale for BBC Radio 4. It has been repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra several times. [2]
Bryson praises the city of Durham in the book. He later became Chancellor of Durham University from 2005 to 2011. [3]
The title of Briton Neil Humphreys' book Notes from an Even Smaller Island (written on his experiences in the former Crown Colony of Singapore) is a reference to Bryson's book, Humphreys stating in 2012, "When I read Bill Bryson's travel books, I was inspired to do something similar in Asia (some might say rip him off! Luckily, Bill Bryson doesn't say that!)". [4]
Dear Bill Bryson: Footnotes from a Small Island (2015) is an irreverent homage to Notes from a Small Island, wherein Ben Aitken retraces Bryson's journey as precisely as possible – same hotels, same plates of food, same amount of time in the bath – before finishing outside his house on Christmas Eve.
William McGuire Bryson is an American-British journalist and author. Bryson has written a number of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has been a resident of Britain for most of his adult life, returning to the U.S. between 1995 and 2003, and holds dual American and British citizenship. He served as the chancellor of Durham University from 2005 to 2011.
Land's End is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on the Penwith peninsula about eight miles (13 km) west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is the English Channel, and to the west the Celtic Sea.
Sir Michael Edward Palin, is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.
Barnard Castle is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum's has an 18th-century Silver Swan automaton exhibit and paintings by Goya and El Greco.
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic band formed in the Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of founding duo and principal songwriters Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys, along with Martin Cooper and Stuart Kershaw (drums). Regarded as pioneers of electronic music, OMD combined an experimental, minimalist ethos with pop sensibilities, becoming key figures in the emergence of synth-pop; McCluskey and Humphreys also introduced the "synth duo" format to British popular music. In the United States, the band were an early presence in the MTV-driven Second British Invasion.
David James Gorman is an English comedian, presenter, and writer.
Durham Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Durham, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Durham and is the mother church of the diocese of Durham. It also contains the shrines of the Anglo-Saxon saints Cuthbert and Bede. There are daily Church of England services at the cathedral, and it received 727,367 visitors in 2019. It is a grade I listed building and forms part of the Durham Castle and Cathedral World Heritage Site.
The Mysterious Island is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1875. The first edition, published by Hetzel, contains illustrations by Jules Férat. The novel is a crossover sequel to Verne's famous Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas (1870) and In Search of the Castaways (1867–68), though its themes are vastly different from those books. An early draft of the novel, rejected by Verne's publisher and wholly reconceived before publication, was titled Shipwrecked Family: Marooned with Uncle Robinson, indicating the influence of the novels Robinson Crusoe and The Swiss Family Robinson. Verne developed a similar theme in his novel, Godfrey Morgan.
The genre of travel literature or travelogue encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs.
Nicholas Crane is an English geographer, explorer, writer and broadcaster. Since 2004 he has written and presented four television series for BBC Two: Coast, Great British Journeys, Map Man and Town.
Coast is a BBC documentary series first broadcast on BBC Two television in 2005. It covers various subjects relating to both the natural and social history of the British coastline and also more recently, that of Britain's near neighbours. The seventh series followed a different format from previous series. In 2016, reports from the show were repackaged as Coast: The Great Guide, an eight part series on BBC Two.
Land's End to John o' Groats is the traversal of the length of the island of Great Britain between two extremities, in the southwest and northeast. The traditional distance by road is 874 miles (1,407 km) and takes most cyclists 10 to 14 days; the record for running the route is nine days. Off-road walkers typically walk about 1,200 miles (1,900 km) and take two or three months for the expedition. Signposts indicate the traditional distance at each end.
Ryan James Thomas is a British former actor. He is best known for playing the role of Jason Grimshaw on ITV soap opera Coronation Street from 2000 until 2016. In 2018, he played Rafael Humphreys in Australian soap opera Neighbours, and won the twenty-second series of Celebrity Big Brother.
Neil Humphreys is an author and Singapore resident. He has written 30 books.
David "Dave" Cornthwaite is an English adventurer, writer and filmmaker. He is best known for his Expedition1000 project, a plan to undertake 25 separate journeys of 1000 miles or more, each using a different form of non-motorised transport.
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America is a book by travel writer Bill Bryson, chronicling his 13,978-mile (22,495-km) trip around the United States in the autumn of 1987 and spring 1988. It was Bryson's first travel book.
Down Under is the British title of a 2000 travelogue book about Australia written by best-selling travel writer Bill Bryson. In the United States and Canada it was published titled In a Sunburned Country, a title taken from the famous Australian poem, "My Country". It was also published as part of Walk About, which included Down Under and another of Bryson's books, A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, in one volume.
Gavin & Stacey is a British sitcom written by James Corden and Ruth Jones about two families: one in Billericay, Essex; one in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan. Mathew Horne and Joanna Page play the eponymous characters Gavin and Stacey, while Corden and Jones star as Smithy and Nessa. Alison Steadman and Larry Lamb star as Gavin's parents, and Melanie Walters (Gwen) is Stacey's mother and Rob Brydon (Bryn) is Stacey's uncle.
John o' Groats is a village 2.5 mi (4 km) northeast of Canisbay, Caithness, in the far north of Scotland. John o' Groats lies on Great Britain's northeastern tip, and is popular with tourists as the most distant point on the mainland from Land's End in Cornwall, 876 mi (1,410 km) to the southwest. The northernmost point of mainland Great Britain is nearby Dunnet Head.
The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes From a Small Island is a humorous travel book by American author Bill Bryson, first published in 2015.
Bill Bryson - selected bibliography | |
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