Friday, June 18, 2010

We're Fannit, Innit

A review copy of celebrated wordsmith Iain Aitch's We're British, Innit has come into my possession, providing much needed evidence that at least one Margatonian can string two words together without the net result looking like an explosion in a Scrabble factory.

It's out in paperback next week (published by Harper Collins at £7.99, but only £5.99 from Amazon) and is chock full of bitesize bits bursting with bang-on bon mots about Blighty, arranged in a read-it-all-in-one-wet-afternoon A-Z format. The new paperback version boasts an additional chapter containing brand new material suggested by members of the Great British Public.

A random flick elicits this entry on Seaside:

Being an island nation we are never more than a short drive from the seaside, which is naturally one of the first places that our leisure industry evolved. We rapidly went from bathing machines to kiss-me-quick hats and saucy postcards, identifying the water's edge as a place where inhibitions could be cast aside. It may have lost some of its allure in the twenty-first century, but it is still the place we go to make sandcastles, ride donkeys and catch crabs, be it in a bucket, from the bed in a B&B or from a local heroin addict prostitute.

Educated at Chatham House, clearly Mr Aitch is still in touch with his Fannit roots, although I gather he can more frequently be found these days swanning it up with the Guardianistas in Stoke Lesbington. Not far from my own pied-a-terre in Norf London's media heartlands, as it happens!

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Also notable at least, a Thanetian who can be witty without causing offence.

The book is an entertaining read.

Mr Aitch is a cut above Thanet's wannabe bloggers

Richard Eastcliff said...

As a madeit Thanet blogger, I totally agree!

Apart from the bit about causing offence.

Bluenote said...

Maybe he will make it onto that illustrious list of Old Ruymians who reached celeb status like Brunel, Ted Heath and Frank Muir!

Lucy Mail said...

Not to mention Brenda Blethyn, Rula Lenska and Tracy Omen.
Had Chatham House been a little less sexist in their ideals, I'm sure each of those would have secured a place there!

Bluenote said...

Did any of them get to Clarendon or Dane Court, Lucy? Chatham House also takes girls in the sixth form so its not that sexist.

Anonymous said...

Oi, Tracy was King Ethelberts, got that!

Matt B (Thanet Star) said...

What mighty act of kissing up got you a preview?

Richard Eastcliff said...

You don't have to 'kiss up' when you're the editor of Thanet's Premier Blog, and one of the most influential blogs in Britain, Lord M. They kiss up to you!

photoman said...

As a former pupil of the blood-letting Pelican fraternity I am not sure that going to that school gives you any status as I appear to be a non-person according to their records . Maybe if I had been better at sports it would have been different as that seemed to guarantee freedom from academic work.
I notice that the old physics labs are now a furniture showroom. I am surprised they are still standing after my adventures with metal bars and batteries. Oh, and we always left by the windows straight onto the street.
And what about Roger(Twiggy) Day?