Enjoy England, the England marketing team at national tourism agency VisitBritain, encourages British visitors to grin, giggle and guffaw their way around England’s greatest comedy related locations and attractions from today (24 June).  Comedy England, aimed at domestic visitors, will encourage Brits to explore English destinations linked to our rich and diverse comedic history and heritage.
 
Proving to visitors young and old that it’s “a funny old country”, the campaign runs for six months from June 2008 to January 2009 and features a map of more than 150 comedic locations and destinations spanning all the regions of England.  Consumers can visit the new website www.enjoyengland.com/comedy to view and download the map, pinpointing the birthplaces and landmarks of our most loved comedians, locations that inspired their gags and featured in sitcoms, great comedy venues and a variety of comedy festivals taking place all over the country.  Website users are also able to watch clips of some of England’s finest comedy moments online, and then discover where to find them. 
 
Locations featured on the map include Torquay – the memorable location for Fawlty Towers; Holmfirth in Yorkshire for Last of the Summer Wine; Billericay in Essex – famed for Gavin and Stacey; Turville in Buckinghamshire – famous for the Vicar of Dibley; Wigmore Abbey in Hertfordshire – setting for the Green Green Grass; Alan Partridge’s home of Norwich; attractions such as the Laurel & Hardy Museum in Ulverston; and Hadfield Derbyshire – the home of Royston Vasey in the League of Gentleman.
 
Laurence Bresh, Enjoy England’s general manager for England marketing at VisitBritain says: “England is renowned for producing some of the best comedy in the world and our sense of humour is a trait that the English are famous for. Comedy is an integral part of our heritage and culture and the Comedy England campaign will encourage visitors to explore some of the regions, locations and attractions which have contributed to this and further increase the 100 million trips that Brits take in their own country every year.”
 
The campaign also reveals some of the lesser known links to comedy in England to inspire visitors further.  Gems such as how Matt Lucas found inspiration for the Little Britain character Vicky Pollard while filming in Bristol and how the monument grave of 18th century actor and comedian John Kane, who died in 1799 in St. Anne’s churchyard in Buxton, Derbyshire, faces west rather than east – because he wanted to face the audience, not the stage – are both amusing anecdotes revealed to potential visitors.
 
Each region links to “local comedy heroes” – those comedians intrinsically linked to the area by birth, address or situational comedy.  Examples include Lenny Henry in Birmingham, Jennifer Saunders in the South West, Ross Noble in the North East, Alan Carr in the East Midlands and Peter Kay in the North West.
 
The campaign will also list comedy venues where visitors can go to catch up on the latest comedic talent and historic buildings with a comedy connection, blue plaques and other monuments in memory of our best loved comics.