Episode 5

It's Jan's birthday and she's determined to do something unexpected.

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 eyeing up the distinctiveness of each enviously.

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.

The Narrator ...... Sheila Hancock
Mary ...... Penelope Wilton
Jan ...... Felicity Montagu
Norman ...... Geoffrey Palmer
Jonathan ...... Kevin Eldon
Rod ...... Tim Key
Orson ...... Nathaniel Parker
Esther ...... Katherine Jakeways
Frank ...... Rufus Wright

Producer: Steven Canny

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2014.