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Bill Bryson vs. British litterbugs

The Guardian reports that Bill Bryson, the American-born master of the humorous travel narrative, has been named president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England. His first act: tackling the British litter problem.

He told the Guardian that a new national campaign to challenge litter louts would be his priority. As well as encouraging people to pick up litter through group and community-run activities, he wants to solve the problem with tougher fines and proper enforcement by councils.

Bryson said: “You have this beautiful countryside and yet it is increasingly filling up with scraps and detritus — things that people are throwing out of their car windows as they drive along.”

Bryson was raised in Des Moines, Iowa, but now lives in Norfolk with his English wife and family. He has written extensively about the idiosyncrasies of both the country of his birth and his adopted nation. He’s also been an English Heritage commissioner since 2003.

Still, one might think the British people might not love a Yank coming in and telling them what to do with their litter and rural landscapes. One would be wrong: the Guardian also reports that they adore him.

“By the time we finally approached him, he was on a shortlist of one,” the CPRE’s chief executive, Shaun Spiers, said yesterday. “We’ve already had a membership surge since the news got out.”

“He’s an absolute saint, I’m sorry but he is,” said Adam Wilkinson, the frequently acid-tongued secretary of the conservation society Save. “He is just a hugely motivated, generous person, with a deep care for his adopted country. It’s that thing of the outsider’s eye — he sees our faults and problems more clearly, and the good things as well, and he’s right about it all.”

It seems the Brits have a soft spot for the man who called their country “adorable to the tiniest degree.”

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