In Search of the English Eccentric
by Henry Hemming
TRAVEL
JOHN MURRAY
12/06/08
Henry Hemming celebrates the true outsiders
Henry Hemming takes his cue from philosopher John Stuart Mill’s ringing declaration in his book On Liberty: ‘That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of our time.’ This should alert the casual reader expecting a cavalcade of crazy characters to the idea that there’s more going on here. Eccentricity is a kind of touchstone for the survival of individuality in a nation nannied into a sanitised lust for the conventional.
But what is an eccentric? The label can be double-edged, both a benign appellation and a way of rendering unconventional behaviour harmless, rather than dangerously dissident or subversive. And one can’t be one by merely wanting to be: the kind of self-consciously wacko behaviour that makes good copy for the tabloids, exemplified here by the fatuous Captain Beany, is usually a counter-indicator: most genuine eccentrics either shun the label, or are oblivious to what society thinks of them.
Some individuals Hemming meets on his journey seem almost pitiable; he describes the Marquess of Bath, for instance, dwarfed by his mammoth 7-million-word autobiography, as being ‘marooned by the event of himself’. Others are inspiring, like the ex-policewoman who lives in a sheep pen in the Yorkshire Dales, thereby annoying the Park Authority by spoiling its ‘essential character’, or the regal Arthur Uther Pendragon, who led the campaign to preserve public access to Stonehenge for the summer solstice.
Despite a worrying feeling that the space for eccentricity in contemporary society is narrowing, Hemming ends the book on a hopeful note: English people recognise, generally, that there are those in the margins with vision who are able to change the mainstream for the better, and this synergy between the fringes and the centre enables the rest of us to define ourselves in a more nuanced way.
This is a shrewd and thought-provoking read that could teach you more about the real meaning of the phrase ‘lifestyle choice’ than any number of glossy magazine articles or interchangeable self-help books.
Dave Lovely, Waterstone's Manchester Deansgate
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