The Wrong Kind of Snow

Rain gave us Inspector Morse and the sliding tackle. Fog gave us the Cat's Eye, Impressionism and chains on front doors. Wind brought a Protestant monarchy. Hail gave us the Norwich Union insurance company. Storms gave us the pencil, the lifeboat, the Norfolk Broads and the first weather forecast. And cold, grey days? Penicillin.In Britain, what isn't affected by the weather? Since the first chilly Roman sat on Hadrian's Wall and pulled his socks on before his sandals (yes, they're the culprits), British life and British weather have been inseparable.This is the story of a people forever caught out in the rain (or by the wrong kind of snow). But it's also the story of a country that knows how to appreciate a fine day. It's about an obsession with fresh air - and the thousands of ways we've devised to make the most of it. Because, beneath our restless skies, there's something only we in Britain, there's no such thing as a dull day.