Photographic Gallery: John Angerson's English Journey

“Being a rambling but truthful account of what one man saw and heard and felt and thought during a journey through England.” Upon its publication 75 years ago, J B Priestley’s English Journey became an important influence for writers, photographers and even, it has been suggested, the agenda of the post-war Labour administration. Cushioned by the success of The Good Companions (1929), Priestley embarked on his tour of the English regions at a time of economic Armageddon. In this new English journey, and in the teeth of a new recession, photographer John Angerson set out to follow in Priestley’s footsteps to document an England which exists now. He takes Priestley’s subtitle as his own.

It is a work in progress, to be exhibited next year and collected into a book. Among the themes of the journey are the growing impact of homogenisation, of the primacy of technology and the national obsession with celebrity. “But,” says Angerson, “the open-hearted spirit of the people I encountered whilst wandering across England has made me believe, as J B Priestley did, that we work as individuals towards a common goal of co-operation never forgetting that we are all dependent on one another.” This gallery of portraits focuses on people he met on his continuing journey.

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1. Lish Fernandes, call centre worker and finalist in the Miss Wiltshire beauty competition, Swindon
2. James Cottle, student, Coventry
3. Matt Dove and Becki Webster, musicians, Norwich
4. Asim Bukhari, worker at NG Bailey, a building service solutions company, Bradford
5. Amritsa Raghvinoer Sharaf outside the newly built IKEA store, Coventry
6. Jane Knight, Lady Master of the Cottesmore Hunt, Oakham
7. Sarah Hogan, student, Coventry
8. Rob Brown, deputy manager of Campanile Hotel, Leicester
9. Peter Bowland, UPS Distribution Centre, Stoke-on-Trent
10. Carl Lofts, known as Lofty, football fan, Nottingham
11. Emma Wade, charity donation collector, MetroCentre, Gateshead
12. Matthew Grundy, team worker at Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, Xtra services, A46

For more images visit John Angerson's website.