Episode 4

Waiting in for a delivery tests the patience of even the most well-meaning of daughters.

Sheila Hancock narrates the bittersweet adventures of the residents of a small town in Northamptonshire.

Written by Katherine Jakeways.

As is well-known: Yorkshiremen wear flat caps and Essex girls wear short skirts; Liverpudlians are scallies and Cockneys are wideboys. Northamptonians gaze wistfully at these stereotypes and wish for an identity of any kind and a label less ridiculous than Northamptonians. Northamptonshire, let us be clear, is neither north, nor south, nor in the Midlands. It floats somewhere between the three, enviously eyeing up the distinctiveness of each.

Katherine Jakeways gives Northamptonshire an identity. And she waits, eagerly, for her home-county to thank her. And possibly make her some kind of Mayor.....

Narrator ...... Sheila Hancock
Mary ...... Penelope Wilton
Norman ...... Geoffrey Palmer

Producer: Steven Canny

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2014.