English Journey

Since its publication 75 years ago, 'English Journey' by JB Priestley has become a benchmark for writers, social historians and photographers. George Orwell's 'The Road to Wigan Pier' and much of the work of photographer Bill Brandt bear its influence, and it has even been mooted that it played a part in the policy-making decisions of the Labour Government in 1945.

This contemporary photographic journey embraces the spirit of Priestley's ‘English Journey’, by using the sub-title of the book: ‘Being a rambling but truthful account of what one man saw and heard and felt and thought during a journey through England.’

As my journey took shape, another global economic downturn similar to that of the 1930s took hold. 'Americanisation' and homogenisation seemed to penetrate almost every town and city. The England that I discovered was manufacturing less and had become highly reliant on technology. Celebrity culture and its media stronghold is fast becoming a national obsession. The impact of world events and terrorism have created new laws and curtailed some aspects of freedom to create images, while public relations departments are stringent in how organisations are portrayed.

But the open-hearted spirit of the people I encountered while wandering across England has made me believe, as JB Priestley did, that we work as individuals towards a common goal of co-operation never forgetting that we are all dependent on one another.

John Angerson
London, 2012.