BOOK COVER PHOTOGRAPH REQUIRED FOR THE TIMES/SCEPTRE

The Times and the publisher Sceptre are looking for a photograph to be used on the cover of the paperback edition of Travis Elborough’s "Wish You Were Here".

more information on the book can be found below, and we'd like to see photos which really encapsulate the English attitude to and relationship with the seaside. To enter, upload your photograph (there are no restrictions on style or period so long as you have the consents and rights in the photograph submitted) as a Jpeg file, along with your name, address and telephone number at thetimes.co.uk/competitions. The competition closes at midnight, August 30, 2010. Professional photographers can not enter. Only one entry per person. Entrants who send more than one picture will be disqualified. Entrants must be 18 years or older and resident in the UK.
Judges The judging panel comprises Lou Siroy, the Times Travel picture editor, Travis Elborough, the author, Alasdair Oliver, Jocasta Hamilton, deputy publisher at Sceptre (an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton), and Alasdair Oliver, art director at Hodder & Stoughton. The winner will be chosen according to whether the panel deem that the photo encapsulates the English attitude to and relationship with the seaside. Wish You Were Here is intended to be published as a paperback next year.
The prize The prize is £250 worth of Jessops vouchers (valid until 30 August 2012), together with a credit in the book. The winner will be announced on September 11 in The Times. The promoters are Times Newspapers Ltd and Hodder & Stoughton Ltd
To enter and for full terms and conditions, visit thetimes.co.uk/competitions.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Wish You Were Here…England on Sea
by Travis Elborough is published 15th July 2010 — Sceptre hardback £14.99
An exploration of our love affair with the seaside-how the English invented the concept of the coastal resort holiday, exported it all over the world, are now reclaiming it…
Why do we love to be beside the seaside?
Travis Elborough investigates our dubious fascination with holiday camps,
fish and chips, windy piers and freezing beaches
Scarborough, Morecambe, Bognor Regis, Skegness. Not so long ago these names were synonymous with long summers and family holidays. Wish you Were Here… describes how, in the world before budget flights, the English cultivated a peculiar eccentricity – the seaside holiday. This habit, once formed, has never quite been shaken off; in fact you could argue that the seaside holiday encapsulates all that it means to be English
In the 1700s an enterprising young Doctor confidently informed the royal family that seaside air would improve their health no end. Thus began a long and passionate relationship which Travis Elborough relates here with his requisite charm. The hilarious and historically fascinating stories he has uncovered provide a fascinating journey from auspicious beginnings, to the present day rediscovery of our coastal retreats.
For the first time in twenty years more people will choose to spend their holidays in Britain rather than abroad this summer. Travis Elborough’s highly entertaining collection of anecdotes, memories and fascinating facts goes some way to explaining the massive appeal of doing just that.
From holiday camps (fittingly used to intern POWs during the Second World War), donkey rides and sick aristocrats to sticks of rock, Basil Fawlty and the Mod’s and Rockers scene, Wish You Were Here… lays bare the heart of our inexplicable desire to be beside the sea.
Wish You Were Here… explores:
· How the English invented the seaside, and how we spread it around the globe from the likes of Morecombe and Bognor to Marbella and Brazil.
· How our idiosyncratic humour, class mannerisms and identity were forged at Butlins camps, through Punch and Judy shows, and in Penny Arcades on wooden piers.
· How camping, previously considered the unpleasant side to hunting and trapping, became the very embodiment of English stiff upper lip resourcefulness – and the way in which we choose to spend our week off work.
· How eco-tourism and the environmental cost of package holidays have led to the English reclaiming their seaside tradition – and how we can once more live the week by the seaside our grandparents dreamed of.
Travis Elborough is a writer for the Guardian and the author of the critically-acclaimed The Bus We Loved and The Long-Player Goodbye, which was the basis for a Radio 2 documentary. He regularly appears on Radio 4 and lives in London
Praise for Travis Elborough
‘Elborough is a charming, funny and frequently fascinating guide’
Daily Telegraph
Reassuring air of cultural authority…impressive depth of perspective…admirably persuasive’
Independent on Sunday
‘He’s got a happy knack of stuffing sentences with facts, colour and incident’
Scotland on Sunday
Elborough has the passion of a true enthusiast…but he’s also an indefatigable researcher, who has somehow seen a clear path through the vast amount of material to write a book that reads easily and well …Richly enjoyable
Mail on Sunday
Anna Kenny-Ginard
Publicity Manager
John Murray & Sceptre
338 Euston Road, London NW1 3BH
t. +44 (0)20 7873 6438 f. +44 (0)20 7873 6442 m. +44 (0)7799 865 953

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Posted by Anna Fox on July 25^th 2010