Speak for England: An Essay on England, 1900-1975: Based on Interviews with Inhabitants of Wigton, Cumberland

by Melvyn Bragg

A memoir and a portrait of Wigton, Cumberland, England --- a hamlet before the Norman Conquest, receiving its first market charter in 1262. A native son of Wigton, Melvin Bragg (1939 -), of BBC fame, based 8 of his novels in his home town. For this biography of a town, Bragg interviewed some 60 community members whose experiences spanned the past seventy-five years of village life.

Genres: History

504 pages, Hardcover

First published July 12, 1976

About the author

Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, FRSL, FRTS (born 6 October 1939) is an English author, broadcaster and media personality who, aside from his many literary endeavours, is perhaps most recognised for his work on The South Bank Show.

Bragg is a prolific novelist and writer of non-fiction, and has written a number of television and film screenplays. Some of his early television work was in collaboration with Ken Russell, for whom he wrote the biographical dramas The Debussy Film (1965) and Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World (1967), as well as Russell's film about Tchaikovsky, The Music Lovers (1970). He is president of the National Academy of Writing. His 2008 novel, Remember Me is a largely autobiographical story.

He is also a Vice President of the Friends of the British Library, a charity set up to provide funding support to the British Library.

Reviews

[JESH · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating picture of life in 20C Wigtown and the huge improvement in the standard of living. It’s now 50 years old so even more change. Bragg reckons people not necessarily happier, better housing etc having broken up close communities.

[kunkku · Rating 3 out of 5]

read as far as I could of contempories of Bragg's whilst employed in the area on which the book is based: no doubt most insightful...