All round the cricket field small parties of villagers were patiently waiting for the great match to begin—a match against gentlemen from London is an event in a village—and some of them looked as if they had been waiting for a good long time. Good-humoured, unpretentious and a bit eccentric, it's more like having a well-read friend than a subscription to a literary review. Pen and pencil inscription to front free endpaper, with water drops and a few small nicks along text block edge. At 7 o'clock the sky over Lambeth was all pigeon-blue and mother-of-pearl and jade-green and citron and topaz" - gorgeous. A review of an amateur production in Thursley, printed in The Times in January 1930, notes that he played his role with "immense gusto" which was "vastly to the taste of the audience".

I don't know whether the caricatures were of well known 1930s figures or an archetype but Mr Huggins was genuinely amusing and enlivened any scene he appeared in, and even when the cricket match veered towards slapstick that would probably have worked better on film, there were still some nice touches. He experiences a few of the essential traits of being English as he progresses from Fox hunts, to weekend parties, to gatherings in pubs and other typical English ritualistic behavior ; all done with good humor and jolly spirit.

The description of the village green cricket match is a classic - I can't read the scene without laughing till my ribs hurt. Whether Cameron is haplessly participating in a village cricket match, being shown around an exclusive golf course, or trying to watch a rugby match in the thick London fog, his affectionately bemused portrait of his new countrymen is a joy to read. In 1914 a man comes down to the green here, and he makes a speech about just that very national honour that you've been talking about.

It is slightly tongue in cheek, but well worth the reading now with so many people eager to show that our view of history is wrong. But very, very much 'of its time' (quite entertainingly racist at points), dated and just, well, tiresome.

The ending seemed terribly abrupt, as if the author desperately wanted to finish somehow or another.