I like looking at the countryside as well as anyone... a little countryside goes a long way, but it's almost like the DNA of a civilisation is in its cities.
Jonathan MeadesI think the French agonise more about being French, I don't think English think about being English that much. I think the Scottish think about being Scottish and the Welsh think about being Welsh, but the English don't really care. But the French think about it all the time, it's an absolute preoccupation.
Jonathan MeadesIf you have slightly pathological interest in all the components of places, it forces you to engage with them in a way that perhaps otherwise you wouldn't, and that's the only way I can put it.
Jonathan MeadesI genuinely find it difficult to think of places that I'd never want to see again. It might be because part of my career has been concerned with writing about topography.
Jonathan Meades