Its Gods own country, according to local legend. A land of unimaginably beautiful countryside, derelict castles, cliff-hugging coastlines, brutally bleak moors, quirkily quaint villages, wondrously winding waterways and industrial monsters of cities. A land laced with the history of the Wars of the Roses, the English Civil War, the birth of the industrial revolution and the rise of the Labour movement, birthplace of legendary figures: Brian Clough, Harold Wilson, John Wycliffe, William Wilberforce, the Bronte Sisters, David Hockney and Barbara Hepworth.

Ed Glinert was born in Dalston, just outside London's East End. He trained as a journalist and founded City Life, Manchester's what's-on and hard news magazine in 1983. In the 1990s he worked for Private Eye magazine, writing the Rotten Boroughs column about council corruption. He has also contributed to the Sunday Times, Independent and the New Statesman. He was launch production editor for Mojo, the rock 'n' roll magazine. Glinert has written a number of books for major publishers including Th