Don't Need the Sunshine

by John Osborne

Don't Need The Sunshine is a humorous journey around Britain's seaside holiday destinations. John Osborne has never been a fan of going abroad somewhere hot on holiday. He blames the bigging up of "abroad" on his parents, or at least their generation. In the 60s and 70s they started going on holiday abroad and came back with a taste for the exoticism of a bottle of vin de pays and a pain au chocolat. Who wanted a stick of rock and a donkey ride in the rain when Provence beckoned? Things were simpler in the olden days—those postwar years when Winston Churchill urged the nation to go on holiday. In need of an escape, but without the funds or inclination for two weeks in the sun, John makes the curious decision to spend a year tracing his family holiday history. If a day trip to Cleethorpes was good enough for his granny, then why should it not be good enough for him? And if his bank manager doesn't stop him, he might even splash out on a week in the Isle of Wight.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, British Literature

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2013

About the author

People best know British playwright John James Osborne, member of the Angry Young Men, for his play Look Back in Anger (1956); vigorous social protest characterizes works of this group of English writers of the 1950s.

This screenwriter acted and criticized the Establishment. The stunning success of Look Back in Anger transformed English theatre. In a productive life of more than four decades, Osborne explored many themes and genres, writing for stage, film and television. His extravagant and iconoclastic personal life flourished. He notoriously used language of the ornate violence on behalf of the political causes that he supported and against his own family, including his wives and children, who nevertheless often gave as good as they got.

He came onto the theatrical scene at a time when British acting enjoyed a golden age, but most great plays came from the United States and France. The complexities of the postwar period blinded British plays. In the post-imperial age, Osborne of the writers first addressed purpose of Britain. He first questioned the point of the monarchy on a prominent public stage. During his peak from 1956 to 1966, he helped to make contempt an acceptable and then even cliched onstage emotion, argued for the cleansing wisdom of bad behavior and bad taste, and combined unsparing truthfulness with devastating wit.

Reviews

[Gail Darwent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gentle nostalgic trip to the saucy seaside

[Russio · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really like John Osborne. I have seen him read his excellent poetry and I am currently enjoying his Radio Head, which is partly why I am less convinced by this, his third book. Essentially, a personal tour of the British coast, he visits a score of resorts and has minor epiphanies in each one. He is an interesting fellow but the generality of this subject makes it more difficult to illuminate as brightly as the more niche concerns tackled by his other work. The equality with which he treats each venue also serves to make this a bit plodding,rather than having the narrative drive of Radio Head.
Sorry John.

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was warm like sunshine, just transported you to the seaside and perfectly described the British coastal towns. It's great.

[Mick Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A first rate book,I like these type of travelogues with a nostalgic influence.worth buying for the chapter about the McGill museum and the final chapter which I thought was headed brilliantly called looking for Eric Morecombe.

[Pam Doyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book about the British seaside. Entertaining and interesting. Good writer, engaging.

[Lee Robertson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bit of a light weight Bill Bryson clone thought it started strong but ran out of steam also shame that no Scottish seaside towns made the trip

[Sally Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

what a throughly enjoyable read. For any American Goodreaders,reading this will give you a real flavour of how quirky the UK can be.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am a sucker for a British Isles based travel book. I think I knew when I picked this up at the library that it would be a little on the superficial side and its appeal would owe much to the contribution of my own seaside nostalgia. Reminiscence Therapy for the early middle aged (Mr Osborne is barely old enough himself to count as that) I knew that and I didn't much care, I knew there would come a point in my reading life where a book like this would find a niche and I enjoyed it despite the superficiality, the lack of organisation, the perhaps rather lazy "Look what I found on Google" information. The final lines of the book brought unexpected tears to my eyes and you can't really complain about any book that does that.

So, the book is really an account of a few trips to the English and Welsh seaside in no very particular order and no very significant attempt at research or history and certainly not a visitor's guide (of course no one should be expecting the latter) He doesn't seem to talk at much length with the people he meets (although that may be because they couldn't or wouldn't spare him enough time... perhaps there was another nostalgia-based travel writer in the queue) But there was plenty to like and it was not all a wallow in "Look how happy we used to be with simple pleasures and isn't modern life rubbish?" I suspect that were this to have been teamed with some Martin Parr photographs, I'd've been in very heaven.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

After a summer spent in Scarborough he starts to reminisce about his childhood spent on British seaside holidays. Osborne is not bothered by the Costa del Whatever, and decides to spend his minimal budget on trips to the beach.

He travel to beaches and resorts (is that the right word) in the different parts of the country, and whilst he is there remembers the things that he loved like beach cricket, 2p shove machines, a visit to a pier and staying in a B&B. He has a go on a zimmer frame simulator, gets slightly terrified at a Punch and Judy convention. Oh and he has a 99 flake. Of course.

Some of the places that he visits have seen better days. He meets the people at Beachy Head that in some cases are the last chance that some people have before ending it all, and goes to a saucy postcard museum on the Isle of Wight. He visits some of the sandcastle competitions that take place, and hears the conspiracy theories as to why Brighton pier burnt down.

I have read some of his other books before, and thought that Radio Head was the better one. This is almost a good as Radio Head, as he writes with such enthusiasm for the beach and the seaside holiday that he brings the memories flooding back. Makes me want go to Swannage Sunday now.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lovely book. The seaside is not just a place, it’s also a feeling, and Osborne captures that relaxed jolly feeling very well his writing, so well in fact he should treat himself to a Mr Whippy. I will visit more seasides now I’ve read this book. I want to go to Southwold and so will you if you read this. It’s like a holiday brochure that lets you create your own pictures in your head.

[Caroline Taggart · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nostalgic tour round Britain’s beaches, featuring everything from Winter Gardens to Eric Morecambe. The style is mostly light-hearted and fun, sometimes reflective, generally enjoyable, but marred all too frequently by clunky, repetitive sentences that a good editor should have dealt with.