Lido Land

[A] highly entertaining, informative new study - observant and lightly nostalgic … With wit and scholarship, Fort shows us how lidos, though inspired by quaint notions of what ‘continental’ swimming must be like, have an intensely British design. * The Spectator *
Entertaining … Fort, whose wry prose style is jauntily readable, has scoured the archives of local newspapers for funny or odd lido stories, for arguments among aldermen and grand gestures by eccentric philanthropists. He has a feeling for the spirit of the historical past as well as its hard facts. * Literary Review *
A sympathetic, heartfelt narrative * The TLS *
Engaging … These monuments to optimism still inspire a singular “intensity of devotion” * Country Life *
All is not lost, for here – with his trunks rolled up in his towel – appears Tom Fort to add an enlightening look at another great British way of life. * Best of British *
Tom Fort has a unique knack of finding new ways to reflect Britain back to ourselves and Lido Land may be his best book yet. Through this watery exploration of lidos, their history, their culture and the people who inhabit them, we learn much about the wider country at large filtered through Fort’s customary wit and erudition. – Charlie Connelly, author of Attention All Shipping
Fort’s book is best at showing how Britain’s lidos belong to a different tradition – of communal pride. * The Oldie *
I found Fort’s wit and scholarship compulsive * The Week *

Tom Fort was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford. On leaving Oxford he went to work as a reporter at the Slough Observer and the Slough Evening Mail before joining the BBC in 1978 where he worked in the BBC Radio newsroom in London for 22 years. Tom has since carved himself a niche as a successful writer of narrative nonfiction, lifting the lid on various aspects of British culture, tradition and pastimes. His publishing hit travelogue, THE A303: HIGHWAY TO THE SUN became a two-part BBC documentary. He then followed this up by his odyssey to rediscover the spirit of the English southern coast from Essex to Land’s End – CHANNEL SHORE – which was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week.

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