Denis Lipman left London’s East End for Washington, DC more than 20 years ago, but made an annual pilgrimage year after year to visit aging parents, a pair of cantankerous, real-life Cockneys. He endured the visits as best he could. Enter an American wife. Not content with a grin-and-bear-it attitude, she declares that since the trip to England was inevitable, then it was to be enjoyed: see things, go places! Against his will, our expat becomes a tourist in his homeland and discovers it’s not so bad after all, certainly better than remembered! Here is a travel memoir more carbolic than bucolic. Discover a place where the sun doesn’t always shine, where going to the loo can be an adventure, and where canned beans on toast is a cornerstone of cuisine. Taste the real East End and tour with a colorful group as they rent cottages, host outrageous relatives, meet the locals and discover the English countryside.
Denis Lipman grew up in the East End of London, in a small two-bedroom house managed by the local council. At fifteen he left school to become a printer's apprentice, but within a week he fled the print shop for a magic shop! At age eighteen, he became one of the youngest members of the Magic Circle, and on his 21st birthday he was on a Greyhound bus heading for his first magician's convention in Philadelphia. As a magician and magic dealer, Denis had an opportunity to tour the United States quite extensively. He loved the place and people so much he couldn't wait to go back.
Denis hankered to conjure something different. Encouraged by his mentor, American movie director Cy Endfield, he left the magic game to become a writer of scripts and songs, and a dabbler in album production. Notably, one of his songs ended up on the Benny Hill Show. In 1979 Denis decided to write a play, A Moment of Life, which was showcased by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford upon Avon. He was then invited to join the company's writer's workshop. Despite his early successes, the search for a "proper job" remained elusive in London, and Denis took a chance and moved to the States. Within two years he was senior writer at a major advertising agency and writing plays for the Washington Theatre Festival. In the early nineties, with American wife Frances Erlebacher, he started his own agency, The Creative Shop, while continuing to moonlight as an occasional playwright.
