Luckless and the Traveller

Accompanied by an aging bulldog, a PhD student hits the road in search of a unifying theory of British culture. Harold’s chance encounters link fourteen short stories that are compelling, humorous, and sometimes tragic.


It is difficult for a researcher to observe without becoming involved. Thus Harold finds himself inveigled on to the set of a Bonatti porn movie and manipulated by the cynical producer of a humiliation TV series. Having undertaken some roading for a confrontational all-girl band, Harold finds himself in the sights of a Muslim brotherhood and a British army officer. As a temporary night watchman in a rundown community centre, he is privy to the dubious plans of the ‘Real Women’s Institute’ to wreak revenge on local troublemakers. No more calendar t**s, these vigilantes mean business.


In a shopping mall reduced to ruins by rioters, a homeless musician tells a woeful tale of harassment by a cyber-stalker. Bizarrely, an ex-Detective Inspector who has gone native in a shed next to houseful of anarchists comes to his aid. Far from urban chaos, on the terrace of a picturesque country pub, an artist’s silent judgment presides over a local tale about the wrecked lives of a Polish fruit picker and the village whore.


The year of research is coming to an end. What will Harold take with him as he retraces his steps to academe?