Join broadcaster Mark Cummings on a joyful journey exploring the Gloucester streets that gave us Scrooge and Long John Silver, find out where classic TV and movie scenes were filmed and feast on delicious nuggets about royalty, rock stars and rugby legends. Walk with Mark to London in the footsteps of Dick Whittington, find out more about our quirky place names, discover unique tips leading you to hidden gems. Did you know that Sir Peter Scott was named after Peter Pan, a Stroud man invented instant custard and why a Cotswold Manor House looks exactly like the Palace of Westminster?
Mark has written a column in Cotswold Life for twenty years, so it is no surprise the Cotswolds feature prominently in Glorious Gloucestershire. He explores the Red Arrows time in Little Rissington, J.M. Barrie’s summers spent at Stanway House and the secrets of how Bridget Jones’s Diary was filmed at Snowshill. Mark explains Tolkien’s love for Stow and Moreton, the link between the SAS and Greasy Joe’s Café in Cirencester and tales from the landlord who served Pierce Brosnan a cheeky pint in a pub in Bourton during the filming of a Bond movie. Bourton, Bibury and Blockley star in the chapters on film and TV locations and the Rock and Roll map of Gloucestershire. Mark shares anecdotes about Steve Winwood in Northleach and John Entwistle’s favourite pubs in Stow. The book investigates how the Cotswolds have left their mark on history from Rendcomb’s Frederick Sanger who invented DNA sequencing methods to The Mill Inn at Withington that introduced the concept of chicken in a basket. Legends like Joe Henson and Gustav Holst appear as well as The Cotswold Olimpicks, a dictionary of Cotswold rhyming slang, Moreton Fire College and the link between the Space Shuttle and Fairford runway.
Mark, who presented the BBC Radio Gloucestershire Breakfast Show for 18 years says,
‘This book encapsulates all I have learned and shared over the years with thousands upon thousands of inquisitive, funny, informative listeners. I am drawing on personal encounters to create something a little bit different. I have spent a year holding the role of the Mock Mayor of Barton, interviewed the real Rosie from Cider with Rosie (Rosalind Buckland), created and cycled a ‘Tour de Gloucestershire’ (200-mile route around the county’s iconic locations), hosted guided tours of the Severn Bore and looked into the mirror that inspired Lewis Carroll’s Alice through the Looking-Glass.'
And it’s not just Mark who is raving about Glorious Gloucestershire, Adam Henson was thrilled his dad features in the book and enjoyed ‘reading about all the legendary characters who have invented, inspired and left amazing legacies’. Pam Ayres, ‘couldn’t wait for Glorious Gloucestershire to be published! I learned so much from Mark’s uniquely well-informed, all-encompassing and loving look at the matchless Cotswolds’. Mike d’Abo – Singer, songwriter, former lead singer of Manfred Mann and composer of Handbags and Gladrags and Build Me Up Buttercup said, ‘Mark writes just as he broadcasts with humour and warmth, telling stories about the writers and musicians who have been inspired by our county. I was surprised and intrigued by the stories about Rick Astley, Ivor Novello, Charlie Watts and even Kylie Minogue! Who knew?’
As an extra bonus, the purchaser of this book can get their hands on a most sought-after Forest of Dean Fern ticket and can act as quizmaster testing friends and family with a hundred questions about Gloucestershire. Cyclists will have an opportunity to download the route with every twist and turn of Mark’s ‘Tour de Gloucestershire’ ride around the county.
Mark Cummings will be talking at The Stroud Book festival on November 6. Further details of appearances can be found here; markcummingsandgoings.com
