British as a second language - David Bennun

A laugh-out-loud look at British life through the eyes of “one of the country’s funniest writers.” —The Guardian

"That Britain made me the man I am today, I would not deny. If I were less civic-minded, though, I might sue for compensation."
—David Bennun

David Bennun had lived in Africa almost his whole life until, at the age of eighteen, he went to live in Britain, the mother country — the country he had read about inPunchmagazine or seen in films likeChariots of Fire. He was in for a shock. “I could not have been less prepared had I spent my life up to that point listening to thirty-year-old broadcasts of the Light Programme.”

In this timely follow-up to his critically acclaimedTick Bite Fever, David Bennun shows us Britain through the eyes of an outsider. With his witty turns of phrase we follow his life as a student, his brushes with Bohemia, his troubles renting and buying property, his discovery of British food and his horrors at entering the world of work. From DIY to architecture; from sport to alcohol; from transport to music and entertainment; David Bennun brilliantly deconstructs all these aspects of life so dear to the British heart.