The Last of England

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Southport, our last English pier. And like that Ford Maddox Brown painting we’re huddled in flimsy shelter against the wind. We to are about to leave our homeland, although luckily just for one night.

We can’t check into Pontins till 4pm so Danny is spending the time looking for a laundrette, fresh pants having long since run out.

Across the water, I assume as there’s none in plain sight, I can see the Blackpool Tower. The Blackpool funk lifted on this morning as we drove through the Pontins gates, Brett Anderson’s trip anthem kicking in on the radio at exactly the right moment.

This is the third act, the validation. You have to go back to the beginning to get the strength to carry on.

Jon was voted the ‘14th Most Influential Person in the West Midlands’ in 2008. Subsequently he has not been placed. He’s been a football referee, venetian blind maker, cellar man, and a losing Labour council candidate: “No, no chance. A complete no-hoper” said a spoilt ballot. Jon wrote and directed the first ever piece of drama performed on Twitter when he persuaded a cast including MPs and journalists to give over their timelines to perform Twitpanto. But all that is behind him.

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