Tom Fort, former angling correspondent for the Financial Times, is one of the most incisive and funny fishing writers in Britain today.This sparkling collection of his writings finds Tom at Ceausescu's bear-hunting lodge in Romania, at a fishing auction in the Home Counties, being thwarted by a bunch of hard-mouthed Brazilian dourado, on a press freebie in Scotland and in a terrible state on the Kennet - not to mention conducting a fantasy celebrity interview with Isaak Wa...

H.T. Sheringham ranks among the finest fishing writers of the twentieth century. Here is a collection of the very best of his angling experiences, taken mainly from his six fishing books and from The Field, for which he was Angling Editor. No fish escaped his interest, even if it did sometimes escape his creel – carp, tench, chub, pike, roach, salmon and trout – all were pursued with equal gusto. He takes the reader on a journey without frontiers, from the reservoirs (Blagdon in i...

'Tom Fort has a unique knack of finding new ways to reflect Britain back to ourselves and Lido Land may be his best book yet!' Charlie Connelly, author of The Shipping NewsPeople are currently flocking back to Britain's lidos in their thousands. But this isn't the first time they've made a splash.From the author of The A303: Highway to the Sun comes a deep dive into the historical and cultural significance of the ...

'A hymn to hardware, charming, lyrical' - The Sunday Times, BOOK OF THE WEEK'A paean to DIY' - The Times'Strung together very agreeably, with dry wit and, dare I say it, considerable polish' - Country LifeIn 2018 Tom Fort's daughter-in-law took over a century-old hardware shop. The family dreamed of developing the shop into one that would become the centre of village life; that much did co...

‘An entertaining book, written with Fort’s characteristic conversational style… A real pleasure to read’ – BBC Countryfile‘A wide-ranging, intelligent and bracingly enjoyable book’ – The Literary Review‘Meticulously researched and seasoned with wry humour, this is a perceptive and richly rewarding read’ – Mail on SundayWe have lived in villages a l...

A Times and Sunday Times Book of the YearPeer into the secret, silent world of the freshwater fish and explore evolution of the art and industry of fishing in Britain's rivers and streams.From cunning Neolithic traps, intricate Roman nets and quarrellous Victorian societies to the evolution of angling and eventual gentrification of river access, this history spans thousands of years and ends with a poignant call to protect the underwater w...

What has been the dish of kings, the subject of myths and the traveller of epic and mysterious journeys? The eel.Beginning life in the Sargasso Sea, the eel travels across the ocean, lives for twenty or so years, and then is driven by some instinct back across the ocean to spawn and die. And the next generation starts the story again. No one knows why the eels return, or how the orphaned elvers learn their way back. One man discovered, after many adventures, the breeding ground of ...

The English Channel is the busiest waterway in the world. Ferries steam back and forth, trains thunder through the tunnel. The narrow sea has been crucial to our development and prosperity. It helps define our notion of Englishness, as an island people, a nation of seafarers. It is also our nearest, dearest playground where people have sought sun, sin and bracing breezes.Tom Fort takes us on a fascinating, discursive journey from east to west, to find out what this stretch of water...

Grass and its organisation into lawns is a particularly English obsession.If an Englishman’s house is his castle, then his lawn is most certainly his estate. Occupying a place in the national psyche comparable to that of afternoon tea, the English concept of the ideal lawn has evolved and altered alomost beyond regognition since its first mention in the time of Henry III. Now Tom Fort traces its history, through famous lawns, to the present day.The English are universally a...

'A nostalgic experience, informative, humorous, charming, but pervaded by the bitter-sweet scent of regret' Daily MailThe A303 is more than a road. It is a story. One of the essential routes of English motoring and the road of choice to the West Country for thousands of holidaymakers, the A303 recalls a time when the journey was an adventure and not simply about getting there.Tom Fort gives voice to the stories this road has to tell, from the bluestones of Stonehenge to Rom...

'You have to be on your guard when you go back to special places. You may be able to locate them easily enough on the map, but maps tell only one story. Times change and places and people with them. The memory plays curious tricks, and things aren't always as you remember or expect.'Twenty years ago, Tom Fort drove his little red car onto the ferry at Felixstowe, bound for all points east. Eastern Europe was still a faraway place, just emerging from its half-century of wak...

Bloomsbury presents Lido Land by Tom Fort, read by Mike Sengelow.'Tom Fort has a unique knack of finding new ways to reflect Britain back to ourselves and Lido Land may be his best book yet!' Charlie Connelly, author of The Shipping NewsPeople are currently flocking back to Britain’s lidos in their thousands. But this isn’t the first time they’ve made a splash.From the author of The A303: Highway to th...