FORMER Yorkshire Dales resident Bill Bryson, the best-selling American author, is to launch a bitter attack on Britain's “rubbish culture” on the4 BBC TV flagship Panorama programme next Monday.

Travelling for Panorama I was reminded just how beautiful this country is...

Bill Bryson - CPRE

When writer Bill Bryson first arrived in Britain in 1972, he thought he'd found the loveliest, most cared for country in the world. His massive bestseller Notes From a Small Island , written when he lived in Malham, near Skipton, celebrated the intrinsic worth of our thoroughly pleasant isle and won the national poll to find the book which best represented modern England.

So, how is modern England doing? Reporting for BBC’s Panorama on Monday 11 August, in a personal and passionate account, Bryson says he's appalled at how we now treat our surroundings like a rubbish tip, and castigates our apparent inability to walk or drive anywhere without leaving a trail of litter. He tours the country, illustrating the scale of the problem, whilst also demonstrating that change can be achieved and we should not despair of the task.

"Travelling for Panorama I was reminded just how beautiful this country is and also how routinely trashed it is by people who litter and fly-tip." Said Bryson, "Studies show that it's done by a very small proportion of people, and of the people who litter, high proportions can be persuaded to change their ways, and that's what gives me hope. We easily filmed enough material for an hour long documentary, but I hope people will enjoy the 30 minute impact of Panorama and then be inspired to help us".

As president of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) , Bryson believes he's just the man to challenge us to clean up our act and, more importantly, to clean up Britain. To that end, he has launched CPRE’s Stop the Drop campaign as a crusade against litter and fly-tipping. See www.cpre.org.uk for more.