Kicking off the series exploring the joys of Essex, surely the most maligned and misunderstood of counties, singer-songwriter Billy Bragg reflects on the borderland between London and Essex that fuelled his childhood imagination

John Betjeman called Essex 'a stronger contrast of beauty and ugliness than any other southern English county'. But, known recently for the pneumonic blondes and diamond geezers of TV's The Only Way Is Essex, as well as the peroxided 'Essex Girls' of the 80s and the Tory-loving 'Basildon Man' of the 90s, Essex seems to have become a parody of itself. But Billy Bragg thinks otherwise...

Reader and writer: Billy Bragg is a singer, songwriter and activist.