In the summer the British play

Published in 1994 so well out of print now but I found a copy in a second-hand bookshop. What caught my eye was the lovely painting on the cover. It was done by illustrator Matthew Cook. The twenty-two British summer events each have a page illustration in this landscape-shaped book, actually, some of the events have additional pictures and lots of small black and white ones.

The British season in the book starts in May with the Chelsea Flower Show and runs on to October and November with the International Rugby at Twickenham (of course, the British summer is well and truly over by then). The events are an interesting mix of established sporting and cultural occasions but also included are what I would call everyday events like tea at Betty's Cafe in Harrogate, the Nottinghill Carnival, or Blackpool illuminations.

Paul Duncan writes about all these seasonal happenings in a pleasant conversational way and provides lots of background detail and nicely gives Insider Tips for many of them. A lovely book about the British at play.