Ric Burns

Any boy scout strolling down Sunset Boulevard with his ears unwaxed these days could be forgiven for concluding that America invented Southern California in order to compensate Britain for the loss of Empire. For some time now, there’s been a certain kind of Englishman and woman for whom America, and especially the American West, holds the promise of the lost Indies – for whom there is no greater ambition than to live and die in Santa Monica. ‘If I ever get the choice,’ Michael Moorcock declares, ‘that’s where I would cheerfully end my days.’’