In New York and Tokyo, Paris and Amsterdam, people open places which they call English pubs. What is the magic of the English Pub? it was "the cradle of American independence", according to Thomas Paine; Marx and Lenin had the same favourite 'local' in London; rule Britannia was written in a pub; the Shakespearian theatre started there. Since Roman times, the English have used the pub as a forum, and the very institution itself has become the subject of debate as the consumer movement for 'real ale' has successfully challenged the big brewers. A pub can be a thatched cottage, a black-and-white timbered Tudor inn, a spectacular Victorian gin-palace, or an unassuming local. All of them survive, in every region of England, and each of them is examined in The English Pub, a study of a unique social phenomenon. Michael Jackson has been a programme-editoron the David Frost Show, a television and film documentary producer, and a regular contributor to the New Statesman and ui magazine. he was born in the North of England, lives in London, and has been a serious pub-goer since the age of 16. His first drinking partner was fellow-journalist Frank Smyth, nhow a contributor to the London observer and author of several books on witchcraft, who collaborated with Jackson on The English Pub. The contents includes: 1) A Unique Phenomenon (The role of the English Pub), 2) Sign Language (A history in the streets), 3) Drinking Styles (The mystique of English beer), 4) The Mirror Image (The graphic art of the brewer), 5) Mahogany and Marble (Architecture and interiors), 6) Playing The Game (Sports and contests), 7) Singing and Dancing (The arts and the pub), 8) The English Inn (Gastronomy and the pub), and 9) The Living Local (Social change and the pub).