In a Nutshell. Great Britain, including Northern Ireland, has a land area of but 94,212 square miles but a popula­tion of over 50 million. This means she is about the size of our Wyoming or Oregon but runs neck and neck with Western Ger­many in having the largest population in Europe save the Soviet Union.

It's been said over and over that the reason the British are the greatest colonizers the world has ever seen is because they have such a terrible climate that they flee abroad. And actually I'm not going to argue the point. The only place I've lived with so much rain is Portland, Oregon.

Be that as it may, England still has its gracious beauty. Largely manmade, but nature does her share too. So much rain could only result in a fabulously green and beflowered countryside, and so it is.

But in man-made sights, England cannot be surpassed. Her buildings go back to prehistory. The famed Stonehenge was built long centuries ago, before the coming of the Romans in 41 B.C. Roman ruins are here, there and the other place and such early Briton ones as Tintagel in Cornwall, reputedly the place where King Arthur was born. It was with the coming of the Normans in 1066 A.D. that the castles which are England's glory began to be erected. Today there are so many of these that the British Travel Association puts out a special booklet for tourists entitled Castles In Britain which lists 48 of the best preserved. With the discovery of the New World, England's empire began to grow and with it an enormous wealth was put into the cities, towns and villages of England. Cathedrals, palaces, government buildings, churches, fortresses—and the most picturesque pubs in the world. It would be hard, in Great Britain, to be able to get more than a mile or two away from some worthwhile sight.

London, until just recently, was the biggest city in the world and for long years had carried this distinction. Tokyo is now larger, in population, but in many respects London is still the most impor­tant city on earth. This is not because of the number of her in­habitants but due to the fact that through this great sprawling city for centuries the biggest Empire the world has even seen was governed. As a result the British museum is the greatest library in the world. St. Paul's possibly the greatest cathedral, The City is the greatest banking and commercial center of the world (with the possible exception of Wall Street) and Lloyd's of London which is in The City is the largest insurance network. We could go on adding to this list indefinitely but to what end? Everyone knows of the grandness of London.

In many respects, England is the ideal place for an American to retire. The language advantages are obvious and no country offers so much in the way of entertainment, cultural activities and op­portunities to pursue a study of almost any subject as does Eng­land. Plays, movies, radio and TV must remain a mystery to us in France, Italy or Spain until we learn the language. But in England all these are immediately ours to enjoy.

Nor is England one of the expensive nations of Europe. London, unfortunately is high, particularly in rents, but otherwise England is one of the cheaper countries. Except for tobacco and alcoholic beverages which are taxed tremendously. In fact, the foreigner re­siding in England is even eligible for many of the socialized medicine advantages.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS. England, like our own country, is one of the toughest nations to enter. Elsewhere in the world, you get a token inspection of your luggage by customs and a quick stamp in your passport and you're through. But in England they definitely inspect your luggage and an immigration official questions you on your reason for your trip. Simply tell them "tourist" and that's enough.

Another hazard. They'll ask you how much money you have with you. If it seems too small an amount, say less than $300, they simply won't let you in. England has no desire to have you on her hands broke. Of course, you aren't bodily searched. The contents of your wallet are never examined. So you can tell them any amount you wish, and they accept your word—unless you're a down and out looking tramp, I suppose.

When you enter your passport will be stamped: Permitted to land at Dover (or whatever your entry port) on condition the holder does not remain in the United Kingdom longer than two months and does not enter any employment paid or unpaid. Some­times the time limit will read three rather than two months.

This puts you in a spot if you had looking for work in mind. Even if you do find a British firm that wants to hire you, the Ministry of Labor can refuse you a work permit simply on the grounds that you shouldn't have been looking for work in the first place. However, they aren't always as tough as all that.

TRANSPORTATION. All the great airliners of the world serve London. In fact, the gigantic new London airport handles 90,000 flights a year. As I write this, there is discussion of fares being reduced but right now First class, New York to London is $400 one way, $720 round trip. Tourist class is $290 one way and $522 round trip. The new Economy class is $453.60 round trip.

Cheaper still, as we've mentioned elsewhere in this book, are the Icelandic Airlines flights which run, at this writing $424.20 round trip in the thrift season ($45 more in the summer). Icelandic has always cut prices and now that the other airlines have introduced the economy class it is expected Icelandic will cut their rates even further. It's worth checking. Their U.S. offices are at 15 West 47th Street in New York City.

Ships to England are as numerous as to any land in the world. It would take the balance of this page and most of the next to begin to list them. Consult your travel agency. Fares run from $155 on the student ships sponsored by the Netherlands and Swiss govern­ments to astronomical figures First class on the Cunard Queens and the other top liners. Basically you can figure on a minimum of $175 tourist class on a liner but are more apt to be paying just about as much as you would going by air unless you wish to sleep in dormitories.

Trains within England are a bit on the grim side. Fares aren't high by our standards, but equipment is largely antiquated and usually dirty. There is a new project to modernize the British rail­roads which will cost a billion dollars before they're through but it's going to take several years to complete.

England's buses charge only l1/2 a mile but although this is a better way of seeing the countryside than by train, the buses aren't much better than trains as far as being modern and comfortable is concerned.

To see rural England best you should do it either by car or bicycle, if possible. Driving, as you know, is to the left, passing on the right. The principal highways are good, although traffic is get­ting too heavy for the facilities and trucks in particular are every­where and just as objectionable in England as they are at home. The Esso gasoline company distributes a good free road map and there are ample service stations and garages. Renting a car in England is as practical as anywhere in the world. Even in season you pay only $3.50 a day plus .05 a mile. If you take a car by the week it comes to $35 with unlimited mileage, and including every­thing except gas and garage.

THE BRITISH. If you have in mind the classic cartoon char­acter of an Englishman wearing a monocle, lacking in humor, and limiting his conversation to an occasional "By Jove"—forget about it. As far as physical appearance is concerned, the British look about the same as we do. Possibly they average a bit shorter in height. As far as a sense of humor is concerned, you'll find every type of humor in England, just as you will in our own land. And the one big advantage is that in England you can understand their jokes and they can understand yours.

You can find every type of Englishman, just as you can every type of American. Good, bad, indifferent. No, I take that back. There is one kind you'll never find; one that wears a monocle and says "By Jove."

The British people are good natured, hospitable, courteous, well disciplined, averagely handsome. And eat absolutely the worst food in the civilized world.

MONEY. British money is the most incomprehensible on earth. Who dreamed up their money system I haven't the vaguest idea but it makes no more sense than their weights and measures. (The English "foot" which is also used in America, was decided upon because it was the length of the king's foot some centuries ago.)

At any rate, $2.80 in American money makes one British pound.

A pound is divided into twenty shillings which in turn consists of 12 pennies.

Coins come in halfpenny, one penny, three pence, six pence, one shilling, two shillings, two shillings and six pence. And paper money comes in 10 shillings, one pound and five pound notes.

If the above doesn't confuse you, you'll find that many prices are listed in guineas which are worth a pound, one shilling. But there is no such coin or note as a guinea. They also call their two shilling six pence coin a Half Crown, but there is no such thing as a "Crown."

To top it off, all the coins are called by slang terms. A shilling is a "bob," a pound is a "quid ," sixpence is a "tanner," two shillings is a Florin.

Until recently it was illegal for a foreigner to bring more than ten pounds into England from abroad but the law has been changed and now you can import as much British money as you wish. However, the pound is currently strong in New York and Switzer­land and you make no gain on the free market exchanges. You can also bring as many dollars or other foreign currency into the country as you wish.

WORK PERMISSION. As I mentioned under Entry Require­ments, you are not allowed to work in Great Britain without a work permit. This is issued—sometimes—by the Ministry of Labour and National Service, St. James Square, London, S.W.I. If you are either an immigrant or a student, such permission is quite readily granted. If you are neither, it can be difficult.

If the company for which you wish to work can prove to the government's satisfaction that an English citizen can't do the job, then you're in like Flynn. But if you're displacing an Englishman, you're out. For instance, Elizabeth Arden was able to employ a U.S. "face dress specialist" but Time magazine had trouble hiring American secretaries.

However, we don't particularly recommend working in England at regular jobs anyway. The pay is miserable and working condi­tions far below American standards. Your best bet is either to work for an American firm, or the U.S. government, who pay off in dollars—or find some occupation which doesn't call for a work permit.

Rules and regulations change periodically and your best bet is to get hold of the current copy of the Anglo American Year Book which is published by the American Chamber of Commerce in London. There are copies available in the larger public libraries and in the offices of the British Information Service in New York, Chicago, Washington and San Francisco. This also gives you a run down on the addresses of the airlines, publications, banks, film companies, advertising agencies, manufacturing concerns, and others that have offices in both England and the U.S.

PRICES. London is one of the more expensive cities of Europe and Great Britain one of the cheapest countries.

That may sound a little foolish, but that's the way things are. Rentals, in London, are frightful when available at all. Things were bad enough before when rents were frozen, but in early 1958 the government withdrew the rent control laws and overnight prices began to rise. Time was granted in the new regulations but many, many Londoners find themselves unable to pay the new rentals and at this writing are seeking other accommodations.

You actually have the ridiculous situation now, of the average worker in London, say a stenographer, or a store clerk, not making enough wages to pay the rent on a small apartment. Where it will end, I don't know.

In the country it is another thing. The more remote you get, the cheaper you will find cottages and houses. In the smaller towns a cottage may often be rented for as little as $25 or $30 a month and a more elaborate house for, say, $40.

Tobacco and alcoholic beverages are highly taxed and even more expensive than in the States with the exception of beer which is still, however, high by European standards. But food is con­siderably cheaper than at home and of excellent quality. The best bacon you ever tasted goes at about .55 a pound and the ultra-famous British beef runs between .60 and $1 a pound according to the cut. Butter is about .50 a pound, vegetables, in season, very cheap. One thing you'll probably like in England is the fact that frozen food is seen more than in any country except our own. Canned goods are also more widely used than in most European countries although they aren't as cheap as at home.

Things like movies and theatres are low priced, compared to the U.S. You usually pay about .40 to go to a good movie and, if anything, you're more apt to see American films than British. A play will cost about $2.50 for a top notch seat at a top notch per­formance. In general, clothing is cheaper than in our own country and of excellent quality. One thing in this regard, however. If you are able to pay $150 or so for a suit, then the London tailors are the best in the world. But if you're looking for a suit that will cost half that, you'd better buy an American ready-to-wear which you'll find considerably better than a British suit in the same price range.

I would say, briefly, that if you had an income of $2,500 a year you could retire very comfortably in England, outside London. This would be for a couple, of course. You'd have to add another $500 to this sum to do it in a large city. When I say comfortably I mean quite comfortably. On a scale that would cost at least two or three times as much in the States. The average British working-man makes possibly $1,250 a year, if that much, and he is con­sidered to have one of the higher standards of living in Europe.

§

PARTICULARLY RECOMMENDED LOCATIONS. I suppose that if from the first we hadn't decided upon absolute honesty in this book, I could read up on some of the travel guides and tourist literature published by every country, and give you a second hand rundown on portions of England that I have never seen. But I'm not going to do that. I have gone by train and bus through a limited few sections of England, but actually I have never lived for any period of time in any location except London. This wasn't due to any lack of curiosity on my part, nor a belief that the British countryside is less than attractive. It is simply that every time I go to England, with intentions of going into the in­terior, I get tied up in London which is a town I love. Something happens, and I never go beyond her city limits, or, at least, not very far beyond.

So I am going to limit this report to London as I find it.

I don't know about you, but personally I go on "kicks." That is I'll get onto some hobby or other, or some study, or some sport and ride it to death for a time. For instance, I once took a trip through Turkey and happened to see the Hittite museum in An­kara. I'd hardly heard about the Hittites before although I've always been an avid reader of history. Nothing would do but that I must go on a "Hittite kick." I went to the museums, I bought a few little Hittite seals and clay statues in the bazaars, I read every book I could find on this early civilization. The kick lasted for a few months and then something else came up—mountain climbing, I think.

At any rate, London is probably the ideal city in the world to go on a "kick." I don't care what your interest is, London will be able to supply you with opportunity to study it, go into it, enjoy it. There are the theatres, the museums, the libraries, the specialty •stores, the clubs and associations, the societies, to afford you any­thing from a close up study of spiritualism to skin diving. And I'm not exaggerating.

London, in short, has everything. The only other city I can think of that remotely approaches her is New York, but even New York fails in many respects to live up to London. It's true you can get just about anything, do just about anything in New York, if you have the money. In London, you can do it without a great deal of money. For instance, how would you like to foot the bill in New York for going to the current top ten theatre hits? Brother! But the last time I was in London I was able to accomplish this without strain at all. Sometimes my seats were no more than a dollar or so.

Even though you had no intention of living permanently in Lon­don I would say that every member of the English speaking world should spend some time in this capital. For, actually, London is the capital not only of Great Britain and the Commonwealth of Nations, but is the cultural capital of English speaking people everywhere. At least that's my opinion and so I found her.

CASE HISTORY No. 1. One of my favorite people in Europe is Tedwell Chapman who used to work on movie scripts out in Hollywood. Never a really big name movie writer, perhaps, but Ted has had credit lines on several films that you'd recognize if I listed them here.

But the thing is that Hollywood is an ulcer factory. The pres­sures there are as bad as on Madison Avenue, New York, and finally it all caught up to Ted. He had a heart attack and the doctor laid it on the line. Ted Chapman was either going to get out of that pressure cooker, the movie industry, or the next attack might be the last.

So Ted dropped out of the only business he knew much about and headed for Europe. He'd written a play or two in his time and they were going to do a version of one of them in England.

It probably would have been easy enough for Ted to have got back into the same ratrace in London that he'd been in in Holly­wood, but he was intelligent enough to avoid that. Even when his money began to run short and he was face to face with the problem of making a living.

Opportunity came in the shape of Peter Eton who at that time was connected with B.B.C., the British Broadcasting Corporation, the State owned radio and TV outfit which serves Great Britain. Eton is now affiliated with the ITA, the Independent Tevevision Association which is now bringing commercial programs to Eng­land, but at that time he had a lofty position in serving the British their daily air-borne entertainment.

Ted's easy job was to rewrite and correct scripts that dealt in any way with the United States.

Peter Eton was intelligent enough to realize that any English writer, no matter if he had lived in America himself for a time, just couldn't correctly reproduce American terminology and slang. An English writer, dealing with a New York taxi cab driver, usually has him talking like a cockney, rather than a resident of Brooklyn.

So to achieve authenticity every time a radio or TV script involved an American character, it was turned over to Ted. Ted went through it and made the necessary corrections. No trouble in get­ting a work permit, of course, because obviously no Englishman could do the job. The pay was good enough so that Ted could live quite adequately in London.

It was as simple as that.

Could you get such a job? Possibly not exactly such a position, unless you had connections and friends, but there are jobs of this type kicking around that more than one American has stumbled upon. There are many, many occasions when an American is needed, simply because he is an American. No one else will do.

I know of an 18 year old boy in Madrid, for instance, who acts as a courier taking business reports back and forth between New York and Spain. He works for an agency which makes economic reports on Spain for American concerns. Often these concerns want the material brought directly to them rather than trusting the mails. The 18 year old has no training whatsoever, but he has an Ameri­can passport. He can get in and out of the United States without any difficulty, while getting in and out of our country poses a whole set of problems for a foreigner. So back and forth across the At­lantic our teenager flies, possibly as often as twice a week. On his expense account he stays at good hotels, eats in excellent restau­rants. His salary, which is in dollars, is enough to keep him very well indeed.

I list Ted Chapman's case history and this one of the 18 year old not because I think you could get exactly the same sort of high paying easy job, they both enjoy, but just to list a couple of typical examples of positions Americans can find. What you might fall into might be even better, although on an average it's best not to depend upon falling into something. Definite preparation is always more sensible.

CASE HISTORY No. 2. Another good London friend of mine is Norman Snyder who used to drive a taxicab in New York while he was going to C.C.,N.Y., New York's king-sized city college. He studied education and upon graduation decided to take a look at Europe before getting located at a standard teaching job in one of New York's schools.

He wasn't thinking in terms of teaching when he hit London, but he ran into an American who was working at a U.S. Air Base School, teaching the American children of U.S. servicemen based in England. They had just lost one of their teachers at the school and were short handed. Norman decided to take the position temporarily to build up his funds a bit.

The turnover in teachers seems to be high overseas, at any rate, before Norman knew it he was being offered the principal's job in the small school. It was too good to turn down and now Norman and his new wife, Pauline, who hails from Canada, are on a permanent basis.

What are the advantages of teaching in London rather than in the States? For one thing, Norman's pay is about $5,000 a year, if I'm not mistaken. But on top of this he gets a living allotment which adds nicely to his income and is able to buy through the Air Force PX which gives him State-side products, tax free, not to speak of such items as German cameras, tax free, French perfumes, tax free—and so forth. And teacher's vacations, of course, are lengthy ones. Norman and Pauline make a point of making a major trip, to Spain, to Italy, to Austria each year. Even during the Christmas vacation they have sufficient time to run over to Switzerland for a little skiing and such.

But above all Norman is living in England on an American in­come. A dollar will go considerably further in England than at home and Norman and Pauline enjoy a standard of living they couldn't have dreamed of in New York.

Could you get such a position?

The big requirement, of course, is that you be a qualified teacher. If you are there are literally hundreds of opportunities to get teaching jobs abroad, not only with the American armed forces but in many, many openings. So many, indeed that I couldn't list them all. However, following are some addresses where you can receive further information on teaching jobs abroad:

Inter-American Schools Service, 1785 Massachusetts Ave., Washington 6, D.C.

Recruitment Branch, Personnel Management Division, U.S. Information Agency, Washington 25, D.C.

Overseas Affairs Division, Office of Civilian Personnel, Depart­ment of the Army, Washington 25, D.C.

Director of Military Personnel, H.Q. U.S. Air Force, Washing­ton 25, D.C.

Information and Education Section, Department of the Navy, Pentagon Building, Washington 25, D.C.

CASE HISTORY No. 3. From time to time I've mentioned in this book that personally I've seen a good deal of this world in the past few years at what amounts to no cost at all since I had more money at the end than I started with. Since this must sound almost unbelievable to some of my readers I might as well list here as one example of seeing the world, free of charge, that starts in England.

At no cost at all, except a dollar or two for insurance, you can take a cruise up into the Arctic Ocean, touching probably in Nor­way at some Artie port such as Vardo which is only a few miles from the Soviet border, and possibly in Iceland on the way back. The cruise will last two or three weeks and if you enjoy it greatly, you can take another one. In fact, you can keep taking them all spring and summer and into the fall. Indeed, if you wish, you can reverse your engines and take a really lengthy cruise down into Antarctic waters.

All for free.

What's the gimmick? Does this sound impossible?

In Grimsby, England, is one of the largest fishing ports in the world. Possibly the largest. In return for your doing odd jobs around the ship several of the trawler companies here will take you free, supplying you with food and berth of course, on one of their regular trips. You do not work hard. At least I didn't. You do have a fascinating trip into the Land of the Midnight Sun.

These trips into Arctic waters are very simple to arrange, but it is only occasionally that you can make arrangements to go on a whaler to the Antarctic and that trip takes several months. I didn't take one of these myself, but hear reports that the work is harder on the whalers and that you become weary of it all before the ship returns.

The Grimsby trawlers put out so often that you don't really need to make advance plans. If you simply go to Grimsby which is directly North of London and near the city of Hull, and apply to the Secretary of the Trawler Owner's Association Federation, at Fish Dock, he'll find you a berth within a day or two. But if you wish, write him in advance for further information. They'll send you a mimeographed leaflet giving all the dope. Address is simply: Fish Dock, Grimsby, England.

CASE HISTORY No. 4. I can't give you much on this one, be­cause I'm not personally acquainted with Miss Joyce Wells, but recently I read an account of her business in London in a copy of Mademoiselle magazine.

Miss Wells sends two hundred thousand catalogues yearly to Americans, selling British goods in the States for American dollars.

Although I don't know the details of Miss Wells' operation I have met other Americans abroad who have worked out similar deals, although not on quite so big a scale.

British firms, of course, are glad to supply the catalogues. That's what catalogues are for, to be brought before the eyes of potential customers. Then the usual thing is to run ads in American publica­tions, offering to send the catalogues free of charge. And business done with the people who respond to the ads goes through your hands and you get your cut.

Another way of handling it is to print up your own catalogue at your own expense, listing such British items (or Spanish ones in Spain, Greek ones in Greece, and so forth) as you feel would par­ticularly appeal to Americans. Then when your orders come in, and not before, you acquire the objects desired.

American laws applying to such imports of foreign goods into the United States change every year as one tariff goes up, another down, and another is eliminated altogether. Check for the latest information with your local branch of the American Chamber of Commerce. Or write to the U.S. Bureau of Customs, Washington, D.C. There is various red tape involved in this sort of business, and rather than list it here, with the danger that it might be out of date by the time you read this, I suggest you write them direct.

Are You Ready To Move Onto The Next Lesson? Click Here...