The king had paid a visit to the place to benefit from its sea air, and returned to London, apparently refreshed. It’s no surprise that Bryson picked Bognor Regis as a starting-point, in view of George V’s sharp assessment of the town. We won't be going every step of the way here, but sipping lightly at the delights of Bill's canny observations. It's from the South Coast he starts his long walk the length of the island, attempting to follow a direct line from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, Scotland's furthest tip. The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from A Small Island sports a colourful drawing of the white cliffs of the Seven Sisters, and a jolly John Bull-type fisherman. Notes from a Small Island is the best-selling British travel book ever, and was voted in a BBC poll "the book that best represents Britain", so the follow-up was inevitable – although it has taken 20 years. In a way that the British find difficult to express themselves, Bryson finds a country that is bewildering, quirky, endearing and beautiful. Ever since he pottered about Britain, with his Notes from A Small Island, sticking his nose into every small corner of the scept'red isle, an unashamedly Anglophile American, the Brits have taken Bill Bryson to their bosom, charmed by his obvious fondness for their eccentric ways, and the hilarity he finds at every turn of their little roads.
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