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“A lovely, heartfelt paean to English eccentrics by a member of the tribe. A funny, timely and moving encounter with a dying breed.”

Jon Ronson

“Hilarious”

Daily Mail

“an entertaining quest to understand our national identity”

thelondonpaper

“plastered quarters of the velvet-pantalooned Marquess of Bath, to the drafty Yorkshire sheep pen of modern “witch” Sue Woodcock and the Battersea-based atelier of Vivienne Westwood, Hemming discovers a type of person who remains indeterminable by sex, class or creed”

Vogue

“Hemming scours the land to discover that its beloved oddballs are alive and well … it still takes all sorts to make an England — and thank goodness for that”

Tatler

 

The English eccentric is under threat. In our increasingly homogenised society, these celebrated parts of our national identity are anomalies that may soon no longer fit. Or so it seems. On his entertaining and thought-provoking quest to discover the most eccentric English person alive today, Henry Hemming unearths a surprisingly large array of playfully outspoken, original and inspiring characters. He asks what it is to be an eccentric. Is it simply to thrive on creativity and non-conformity, and where does this incarnation of Englishness stem from? Hemming concludes that this tribe is, in fact, in rude health, as essential as ever to the English national identity, only they are no longer to be found where you’d expect them to be.

Featuring interviews with Dame Vivienne Westwood, the Marquess of Bath, Pete Doherty, the modern-day reincarnation of King Arthur, the Leopard Man of Skye, Sebastian Horsley, Chris Eubank, Captain Beany and Brian Haw among others.