In 1995, before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire to move back to the States for a few years with his family, Bill Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around Britain, a sort of valedictory tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. His aim was to take stock of the nation's public face and private parts (as it were), and to analyse what precisely it was he loved so much about a country that had produced Marmite; a military hero whose dying wish was to be kissed by a fellow named Hardy; place names like Farleigh Wallop, Titsey and Shellow Bowells; people who said 'Mustn't grumble', and Ooh lovely at the sight of a cup of tea and a plate of biscuits; andGardeners' Question Time.Notes from a Small Islandwas a huge number-one bestseller when it was first published, and has become the nation's most loved book about Britain, going on to sell over two million copies.

Bill Brysons bestselling travel books includeThe Lost ContinentandNotes from a Small Island, which in a national poll was voted the book that best represents Britain. Another travel book,A Walk in the Woods,has become a major film starring Robert Redford, Nick Nolte and Emma Thompson. His new number oneSunday Timesbestseller isThe Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes from a Small Island.

His acclaimed book on the history of science,A Short History of Nearly Everything, won the Royal Societys Aventis Prize as well as the Descartes Prize, the European Unions highest literary award. He has written books on language, on Shakespeare, on history, and on his own childhood in the hilarious memoirThe Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. His last critically lauded bestsellers wereAt Home: a Short History of Private Life, andOne Summer: America 1927

Bill Bryson was born in the American Midwest, and now lives in the UK. A former Chancellor of Durham University, he was President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England for five years, and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society.

Bill Bryson's hilarious tour of his adopted country: the book that was voted the nation's favourite book on modern Britain in a World Book Day BBC poll.>