Product Description

Brighton is a town where seagulls wheel, light glitters and sex hangs heavy on the air. Inspired by the idea of the town of Brighton, the author of this book returns to it after 20 years. He writes about actors and fantasists, drunkards, writers, chancers and maniacs who haunt its sloping streets.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #943745 in Books
• Published on: 1998-05-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 221 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Brighton, the "antithesis of England" as Nigel Richardson describes it towards the beginning of his lyric to a unique town, Breakfast in Brighton: Adventures on the Edge of Britain. On the edge of England, certainly--Richardson makes much of his sea- front garret in a Regency square, café and pub life by the sea--but also Brighton as a place to live "on the edge": Richardson's Brighton is as much a state of mind as a geographical space, a refuge from the banality of everyday life. It's a fascinating tale, drawing on various real and mythic moments in Brighton's past (the Brighton Trunk Murders, the filming of Brighton Rock, the "Sea Monster" dredged up by fishermen in the mid-19th century) as well as the story of the painting which haunts this book: "Breakfast in Brighton", painted around 1950 by Edward le Bas. Inviting his readers to join him in his (visitor's) homage to the diversity, and exuberance, of the cultures around him-- "Brighton has a rare genius for moving with the times yet remaining the same", he muses on his journey through the North Laines--Richardson casts himself as a modern day flaneur, a man on the track of the history embedded in the fabric, and spectacle, of urban life. --Vicky Lebeau

About the Author
Nigel Richardson is an award-winning travel writer and journalist. The former deputy travel editor of The Daily Telegraph, he writes extensively on British and overseas travel and has a passion for unearthing quirky stories about the people and places he encounters.

Customer Reviews

Breakfast in Brighton
I picked up Nigel Richardson's 'Breakfast in Brighton' as I was leaving Brighton after my first visit. If I hadn't fell in love with the place anyway than this book reaffirmed it. As the train made slow progress back to London I felt like getting off and going back.
We see Brighton from every angle, historical and cultural and are left with an idea of the place as a way of life, a place of adventure and something that you can't get anywhere in England.
A very involving book -- like the other reviewer I was left hanging on for a resolution to the 'adventure' but maybe it wasn't necessary; maybe the story stops when you leave Brighton.
There are plenty of stories there to tell, and Richardson does a great job of telling them.

See you all in Brighton soon!

A wonderful, seedy, vivid account of Brighton life.
This is a fantastic book that covers many fascinating facts about Brighton's murky history. I have lived here for 4 years and it was an enlightening read - I certainly look around the streets with opened eyes (having learnt of the Trunk Murders etc...!) It's not a history book, though, as contempory Brighton is portrayed just as vividly and lovingly as the past. The author is obviously deeply in love with the place, as am I (and anyone else in their right mind should be). I have given 4 crowns instead of 5 because the ending trails off somewhat at a critical point the reader has been building up to throughout the book. Perhaps the author is planning a follow-up - I certainly hope so, but I felt rather cruelly let down!

Part diary, part mystery all Brighton
This book starts in the style of a personal narrative - "This is how I wrote this book on Brighton", and then manages to weave in explorations of the author's particular interests.

I was sufficiently taken by the analysis of Brighton Rock to re-read it after this. The Brighton presented (which predates my own experience by a long way!) is understood to be no more real than any other recreation of the past - e.g. the London of Dickens and Sherlock Holmes.

The book wanders around in the way that life itself does, mixing anecdote and experience. It then surprises at the end by becoming a histrical detective story (no spoliers, just a mention of a painting and a boat trip) then stops without resolution.

A haunting read, well recommended