Britain by the Book: A Curious Tour of Our Literary Landscape

by Oliver Tearle

What caused Dickens to leap out of bed one night and walk 30 miles from London to Kent?How did a small town on the Welsh borders become the second-hand bookshop capital of the world?Why did a jellyfish persuade Evelyn Waugh to abandon his suicide attempt in North Wales? A multitude of curious questions are answered in Britain by the Book, a fascinating travelogue with a literary theme, taking in unusual writers' haunts and the surprising places that inspired some of our favourite fictional locations. We'll learn why Thomas Hardy was buried twice, how a librarian in Manchester invented the thesaurus as a means of coping with depression, and why Agatha Christie was investigated by MI5 during the Second World War. The map of Britain that emerges is one dotted with interesting literary stories and bookish curiosities.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, History, Travel, British Literature

240 pages, Hardcover

Published November 2, 2017

About the author

From Bloomsbury: Oliver Tearle lectures at Loughborough University, UK. He is the co-editor (with John Schad) of the book Crrritic! and the author of Bewilderments of Vision: Hallucination and Literature, 1880-1914.

Writes: Gender Studies, Modernism, Twentieth-Century Literature, Creative Writing, Literary Theory

Reviews

[Sherrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

the title sounded intriguing and thats what attracted me to this book. turned out to be the most interesting part of it! the rest was mostly dull and quite boring, i struggled to rate it 3, but there were a few snippets worth reading. i,m sure the author could have found more of interest to include from our wealth of literary history

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

We have a rich and deep literary history in this country, there are poets, playwrights and authors who have been inspired by the places that they have lived and created works that still resonate today.

Tearle’s journey around begins in Scotland with William Topaz McGonnal, sometimes known as the Bard of Dundee. He is widely considered to be the worst poet in the English language. He applied for patronage from Queen Victoria, who politely declined, but he took to be an expression of interest. He agreed to read some of his works, in a circus, on the condition that the audience could pelt his with rotten vegetables and eggs. He agreed as the money was handy.

Moving on from this auspicious start, Tearle takes us past Robbie Burns, Sir Walter Scott and how a break in Whitby gave the creator of Dracula, Stoker, plenty of material to work with. In York, he tells us the favourite poem of the middle ages and it isn’t what you think it is before recounting stories about Bradford’s favourite literary son, Priestly. Further south in Nottingham, DH Lawrence is in trouble again with his book, The White Peacock.

There are stories about books and poems that have been written in jail, authors who stayed in towns that no longer exist, one about the oldest bookshop in Britain and why Thomas is buried in two locations. Even, Terry Pratchett gets a mention twice.

It is not too bad overall. There are various stories in here that were new to me, though I was aware of a few of them. It can’t have been easy choosing from the vast number of writers to make this a complete country tour. Glad it wasn’t London Centric too. If there was one flaw, I would have liked a few more contemporary authors to get a mention, but that is only a small thing.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun little book. I especially like the fact that the author includes literary figures who are no longer well known. You are more likely to learn something new in those areas and have a laugh as well.

While reading this book I found myself thinking about more books that I should read. Peter Mark Roget of thesaurus fame sounds like a likely author to look into. He is associated with London and had a day job! Roget’s Thesaurus was only his side obsession and took a lifetime to finish. But do we remember his other jobs?

I do wish Tearle had included a larger bibliography.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book by Oliver Tearle I have read and why I consider this effort much better than 'The Secret Library' in that it has much information and many stories that are fresh and interesting he does fall down again making the most idiotic misstatements, for example he states that the Hardy mountains have no connection to the author Thomas Hardy but are named after Vice Admiral Thomas Hardy who Nelson famously wanted 'to kiss'. Nelson did not want to kiss Hardy he wanted Hardy to kiss him, messing up one of the best known 'last words' statements in the English language and history is quite an achievement and makes me wonder about the accuracy of other things he says.

Overall a perfectly adequate book for long journeys if you want something undemanding but I would imagine it will receive a deserved place in more loos than libraries.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tearle takes us round Great Britain and talks about various authors and their connections to various places. The chapters were really short so this was a great introduction to many of the people and areas. Very entertaining and rather informative.

[Smiley C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saw this little delight sitting at the 'Travel reads' section of the library just as I'm leaving in a hurry. It's even better than I thought. Finished it after half a month (well don't blame me it's non fiction and I'm on a vacation), and I've learnt a bunch of fascinating useless facts -- well maybe not totally useless -- do you know Jane Austen hated Bath and fainted when her family wanted to move there?

Written in digestible one-or-two-paged bitesize chunks blended with Oliver Tearle's humour, it's the perfect read just before bed/in the toilet/waiting for microwave food, and I'm glad of this arrangement, because, let's admit it, any longer or I might just get a little bit bored. You see, I was an enthusiastic GCSE Eng Lit student, pay attention to past tense.

Random facts I've learned:

The Scott Monument (which I visited!) was 62m, the largest monument dedicated to any writer.
William McGonagall (who inspired Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter) was a buffoon who wrote Poetic Gems, More Poetic Gems, Still More Poetic Gems... so on, and finally Last Poetic Gems.
The name Dracula was inspired in Whitby, or otherwise the character might be named "Count Wampyr". How disastrous.
Beatrix Potter was interested in the natural world and wrote scientific papers on fungi.
Roget's Thesaurus left monologophobiacs (people who fear repeating the same word in a piece of writing) grateful, leaving us gems such as 'claw-back', 'ear-wig', 'pickthank', and 'Sir Pertinax MacSycophant' to replace 'flatterer'. We are very thankful for this, Roget.
Larkin and his friend Kingsley Amis signed off their letters to each other with "bum"?! And he signed his letters to his lover Monica Jones with "Bun" (apparently as reference to Beatrix Potter)?! It gets just too funny.
Lady Godiva in Coventry. That I know. But I didn't know the story of Peeping Tom!
The back room -- the Rabbit Room of the Oxford pub "Eagle and the Child" on St Giles used to be the meeting place of the "Inklings", which included CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. Contrary to popular belief, those two authors have their eccentricities, involving polar bear dress up and chasing neighbours down the road dressed as a warrior.
P.B Shelley hated Eton at first. He was accused of hiding a bulldog in his teacher's desk and left a legacy by blowing up a tree on school grounds. Nice one Percy.
Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton (whose full name had 3 Lytton in it) wrote the very famous opening line "it was a dark and stormy night..."
JM Barrie formed a cricket team with HG Wells, Sir AC Doyle, Jerome K Jerome, AA Milne etc, but not all of them are exactly promising cricketing material...
Kent used to have a Dickens World theme park, but sadly it was closed in 2016.
Anthony Burgess wrote A Clockwork Orange in a frenzy when he was misdiagnosed with cancer but ended up living 3 more decades instead.
JRR Tolkien moved to Dorset to escape enthusiastic American fans (including WH Auden), and was struck by Lyme Regis' "petrified dragons" i.e. dino fossils.
Exeter was famed for its riddles, and the Exeter book is housed in the Cathedral. In the city centre they're a sculpture decorated with the Exeter riddles.
Daphne du Maurier based Manderley on her house in Cornwall, Menabilly.

Last but not least, I recommend this a delightful read for literary and history lovers alike.

[Carolien · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A whistle stop tour of places connected to British authors. Lots of random bits of information and I ended up adding quite a few books to my TBR. I read a few chapters each day and enjoyed the short chapters.

[Jade Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Britain by the Book" is an utterly charming collection of stories about famous English authors and the intriguing lives they lived.

Written as a travelogue, the book is packed with well-researched tales that are fun to share with other lovers of literature. The chapters on George Eliot and J.R.R. Tolkien were particularly enlightening. Oliver Tearle's dry wit also had me giggling in public, which I'm sure made those nearby wonder why.

As an lifelong reader and Anglophile, I bookmarked numerous sections featuring places I intend to visit. And once this Brexit mess is over, I shall.

"Britain by the Book" is definitely a keeper!

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book to pick up and read if you are travelling and hope to find a literary connection on the way. Some interesting new facts learned, although most were familiar. A book to browse from time to time rather than read it straight through all at once.

[D.K. Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do like trivia books, I must confess. Give me a lot of facts mixed with a reasonable dose of humour and I'm in cloud nine. I got more than my money's worth with Dr Oliver Tearle's most excellent 'Britain by the Book'.

I hope Dr Tearle will forgive me to comparing him to one of my great writing heroes but I found his literary walk around the UK to be rather like the amalgamation of Bill Bryson's 'Notes from a Small Island' and 'Mother Tongue', taking the best humour of the former and the same level of accuracy of the latter. The result was a book which could have been written just for me.

Tearle's humour is gentle and there is none of the venom of the aforementioned American author's style, which is a good thing. This is a jovial, friendly book from start to finish. I can easily imagine that Tearle, who is a lecturer at Loughborough University, being a popular and much-loved teacher by his students rather than stand-offish. I could be wrong, I suppose, but his writing style feels like being in the presence of a fascinating chap with a good sense of fun who might just enjoy nattering away about such things over a pint in the local pub. In other words: my kind of guy.

To be fair, I'm not just gleaning this from the book itself. Tearle is the founder of one of my most favourite blogs, Interesting Literature, which has been used as a source for various things, not least for the wonderful TV programme QI. The blog is almost as much a joy as Tearle's book and certainly every bit as fascinating and informative. I've followed the posts for many years now and no doubt will continue for as long as it Tearle and his companions choose to keep it going.

So what exactly do we have here? Like Bryson's 'Notes', we're taken on a journey around Britain. The difference is that in each place we're interested in the poets, novelists and nursery rhyme creators who have inhabited, visited or been inspired by these locations. Where there is a juicy plum, a nugget of gold, or whatever other metaphor you wish to employ, Tearle has found it and relished in the telling thereof.

I have no wish to spoil the delights of these moments so, rather than reveal any, I'll try to tantalise you with a few things you will find out. Within these pages you'll discover:

*Who dressed up as polar bears for a non-fancy-dress party;
*Which town is twinned with Ankh-Morpork;
*The truth about our national anthem;
*Who was the originator of the expression (much loved by my father!) 'the great unwashed';
*Whose obscure science-fiction novel is completely forgotten except for one single word which is found in supermarkets all over the country;
*Who really did open a novel with 'It was a dark and stormy night...' (no, not Snoopy);
*Who was the first to use a kiss;
*Where Hardy is really buried (sort of...probably...);
*what Jane Austen really thought of Bath.

For me though, the part which was worth the price of the book - and actually made me splutter my tea across the room as I read it - was the chapter on the author of 'Old Mother Hubbard' and Tearle's description of her future brother-in-law. A classic moment.

I've picked out my personal favourites but, of course; I've ignored hundreds more. It is safe to say, you'll probably find your own parts which fascinate, intrigue or just plain make you laugh. Tearle finds precisely the right balance between the well-known and the totally forgotten which means there's something for everyone here.

In short, this is a perfect book to have on the coffee table for guests to dip into and a good choice for that literary fan in your life. Light, fun and easy to read - but with every sentence packed with well-researched facts - Dr Tearle has converted me with this book. I'm a fan and look forward to more this off-the-wall academic. As he hints at the end of 'Britain by the Book' there's room for a sequel...

[Geoff Battle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely one for those who enjoy the more historical writers of English literature. The book winds its way through Britain, passing through a plethora of villages and towns, uncovering the little known facts about books written in them or featuring them. Britain by the Book offers about a hundred two or three page summaries, presenting snippets of history, about many authors you will be familiar with, and a few you may not be. It touches on some of the most famous novels (Dracula, Ivanhoe etc) and the histories are short enough to dip in to as light reading as well as being uncommon enough to be interesting.

A great gift for bookworms who prefer literature prior to the contemporary period. It's a densely worded book (all text), making the best use of its size and format. The tour of Britain offers facts for towns all over the country and its target market should enjoy expanding their knowledge of some of their favourite authors.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5-4
This is a great book to have with you at the doctor's office or when traveling. It is full of 2-4 page anecdotes linking British authors to various locations. It contains some interesting stories about author's personal lives, inspiration, and process, helping to turn literary legends back into people. It provides great context and connections for many small English villages and adds another layer of color to cities.

It is a very hard book to sit and read. The short segments and constant focus change make it difficult to built any momentum, but I don't think that is how this book is meant to be read.

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a rather charming book - each section is only a few pages long, about different locations and different authors in the British Isle. The tone is conversational and witty - it's like being at a pub trivia with your literature major friends. It's full of little, quirky gems and touches on all the greats of English literature. My only complaint is that there were possibly a few too many obscure writers and poets - I consider myself fairly well read but there were many authors/poets mentioned that I've never heard of. But that didn't really matter, it was all very interesting and I look forward to spotting some of the places mentioned when I go to the UK later this year!

[Alejandro Ramirez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is a very light read, and not an ambitious book. If you are not into XIX century British literature, is a collection of mildly amusing anecdotes about random people. Depends how deeply connected you are to those authors, the anecdotes can be fun. Each episode is 2 pages.

Two of the episodes I found interesting were the one about Britain's worst poet ever; and the one abut the cricket team that had as i't members: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), G.K. Chesterton, Rudyard Kipling, the author of Winnie the Poh, the author of Peter Pan, and one of Tennyson's sons.
I'm not sure if they were worth to see playing, but I'd love to hear them arguing with the referee!

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned some really interesting things about many famous British authors and poets throughout the course of this book, and I really enjoyed the way each chapter focused on a different region while still managing to connect information from the previous chapter. However, while I felt that it did contain a lot of meticulously researched information, there were many missed opportunities to go more in depth with the stories being told. The writing was so concise and condensed that I often found myself wanting to know more, and googling more information on my own time. Still a fun book!

[Ana · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not get past page 31 on this book.

It sounded exactly like my sort of book - full of trivia and geographical factoids about literature.

But the geographical connections with the authors and their works were tenuous at best and most of what was related was simply not interesting. Like hearing about what sandwich Charles Dickens was having while writing Oliver Twist - not an actual example, but good lord the dullness to be found herein.

Would not recommend.

[Réka · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
Great selection of towns and literary characters, but sometimes the link between the chapters seems forced. Regarding every book/poem/piece of writing as "the best seller of its age/all the time/English language" gets repetitive and less and less credible. It's easy to read and great for fun facts, but it would rather suit a blog than a book.

[Gaby Meares · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this rather underwhelming I am sorry to say. Tearle's choice of 'curious tidbits' were way too obscure for me. I am familiar with some of the more famous authors, but others would only be known to academics familiar with obscure literary figures.
The book also really needs a table of contents; however the Index is very thorough!

[Bella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this and there was some really interesting little facts, but I felt like it could have delved a bit deeper. It was quite a superficial glance over these facts. A nice quick read though.

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my usual choice for a book however it was an easy enough read. A little quirky but informative nevertheless

[Pers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun, charming romp around literary Britain.

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very interesting read if you're into the history of poetry and the lives these poets lead. A few i knew of already but the majority i didn't which was nice to learn.

[Michelle Grayce · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book about the origins of literature.

[E G Melby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cripes - even more places in the UK to visit 🙄

[Jools · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an absolute delight. I have learned and laughed all the way through, as well as bursting into rooms to read aloud pages from it to my family.
Read this, you'll love it!

[Richard Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

A neat, quick read around literary Britain that serves more as a taster than a main course. Along the journey I certainly learnt a lot, though I cannot understand why, while in Bournemouth, we didn't visit the graves of Marys Wollstonecraft & Shelley.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A ffascinating tour through Britain examining the hidden stories behind some very well known and many lesser known authors and poets

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, it was a lovely little break from all the fiction that I read.

I loved how the stories intertwined with others either by the place or a person involved. I found myself telling my partner some of the stories as they were so interesting.

I would definitely recommend this book and I will be looking for more books like this & book by this author.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of flimsy magazine articles with some clunky links.

[Kathy]

I had to make this a priority as it is a Library Book with a due date!