I cried - Rated 
Hailing from Portsmouth where so many of these shots were taken, I have hooted with laughter, not to say a little humiliation, to see this splendid city so portrayed. But it's all pretty accurate. There's a photo of a tall man in a raincoat waiting while his tiny dog, clad in a little woolly coat, has a dump by the back of a car. This photo literally made me weep and have to bend double with laughter to the extent that I was unable to leave the shop for five minutes. Is it that funny? Possibly not, but it just got me. I am sure that there is at least one picture that will just "get" everyone on the planet in some way or another. Nice to see the countryside get slagged off too.
The only guide you'll ever need to visit Britain - Rated
Forget all those glossy tourist guides to Britain you see in the travel section of the library, this is the only guide you need to really understand the pysche of modern Britain. See the places the average tourist wouldn't even know about. See Britain from the wacky persective of Teasdale and Williams, the way it really is, with the pictures to prove it. Visit the more septic than sceptered parts of Britain that we british all know about (but don't necessarily love), and all for less than the cost of two pints of warm british ale. You may even see yourself in one of the hundreds of postcard pictures adorning the pages of this quircky look at the real Britain. It would be interesting to see other countries such as France treated to this concept of tourism photography and help us to understand the pysche of its inhabitants too. Highly recommended.
This septic isle, this mundane paradise - Rated 
Continuing in the tradition of the 'Crap Town' books this very wry and funny book captures the essence of the real Britain in a few hundred colour photos. Originally on display in the Caravan Gallery, a mustard-coloured 1969 home-from-home that tours the country and presents to whoever feels like stepping inside an affectionate look at our endearing shabbiness.
The two authors have scoured the land for some wonderfully offbeat images including little trains, markets, dogs, bins, derelict garages and shops, seaside, burnt out cars, picnics, toilets, food, litter or graffiti. A spread just called Chicken has eleven photos of premises such as Hentucky Fried Chicken, Chicken 'U' Like, Chicken Cottage and Chick 'O' Land. The chapter on Smut shows two street signs, Canal St. and Morgan Street both are missing the first letter of each word.
Scattered throughout the pages are several of the Caravan Gallery parody postcards like AWARD WINNING PORTSMOUTH with four photos including the recently torn down Tricorn Centre, RELAXING BRACKNELL showing four sad looking public benches, GARDENS OF ENGLAND: predictably suburban flagstone and concrete gardens and don't forget the dead conifers.
Wonderful though these photos are I thought it was unfortunate that they were let down by the book's design (so four stars). Magnum photographer Martin Parr in his book 'Think of England' (ISBN 0714839906) took a similar photographic take on the cliché of Englishness but in his book the images work so well because they were presented in the formal format of the photobook. I think Williams and Teasdale's work deserve a much better presentation than the bland layouts and dull typography in 'Welcome to Britain'. It is sort of ironic that these two brilliantly capture the ordinariness of British life only to have it presented in a very ordinary looking book.
2007 UPDATE The Caravan Gallery has issued another book 'Is Britain Great?' (ISBN 0955025818) in a proper photobook format.
Quirky and Delightful - Rated
They seem to have scoured most of the UK, taking photos that are revealing, humourous and sometimes very touching. This looks like it will be an ideal "Christmas Book" for presents this year.
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