The Enthusiast Almanack

The Enthusiast Almanack
Published by Quercus on 7th September 2006

There is a bridge on the M1 just north of Luton on which somebody has written “Give me some inspiration”. The Enthusiast salutes this anonymous graffiti artist, who early one morning, just as the sun was coming up, leant out and down, over the edge of one of the highest bridges in England, and made his appeal to an audience of millions. Not a driver passes under that bridge who doesn’t briefly imagine another way of life. The Enthusiast Almanack is an invitation to Enthusiasts everywhere.

How do you know if you’re an Enthusiast?

You receive a medium-sized windfall from your building society whose members have just voted to terminate its mutual status.

Do you:
a) tear the cheque up because you were for mutuality, saw it as the last vestige of a co-operative world, and won’t sully your hands with the profits of greed?
b) call your friends, buy a crate of beer, roll back the carpet and have the best party since Margaret Thatcher was kicked out of office?
c) put it in an ISA?
d) put it on a horse?

Warm, wise, generous and unrelenting, as fresh, if not fresher, than the plastic-wrapped white rolls in an in-store bakery, The Enthusiast Almanack is a gift for cultural omnivores, whatever their class, creed, denomination, income group, age group, council-tax band, or other distinguishing features.