I have always found the idea of the 'English Riviera' comical, the sort of gentle self-mocking humour that we British would pride ourselves on if we weren't so gently self-mocking. But looking out at the white buildings in the distance, sprinkled on the cliffs and framed by a sailor-blue sky, I can see it. Just. Fifty-six piers. Two weeks. One eccentric road trip. Before the seaside of their youth disappears forever, two friends from the landlocked Midlands embark on a hare-brained journey to see all the surviving pleasure piers in England and Wales. With a clapped-out car, and not enough cash, Jon and Danny recruit Midge, a man they barely know, to be their driver, even though he has to be back in two weeks to sign on... Taking turns to tell their madcap story, Jon and Danny invite us to join them as they take a funny and nostalgic look at Britishness at the beach, amusement in the arcades and friendship on the road. AUTHORS: Jon Bounds documented outsider culture for the website ?Birmingham: It's Not Shit' for ten years. He's written for the Birmingham Post, Fused and the Guardian, and has appeared as a cultural commentator on Radio 4. Danny Smith has written on culture, pop or otherwise, for Vice, Fused and Area magazines. He's worked the bars and doors of some of the roughest pubs in Birmingham, sold encyclopaedias in the Australian outback and taught gang kids from the ghettos of New Jersey how to shoot a bow and arrow.
