WHAT defines — or delineates — an island nation like ours? It has to be the coastline. Nobody in Britain lives more than about 80 miles from the dolphin-torn, gong-tormented, dragon-green, luminous and serpent-haunted sea — a moat defensive to a house against the envy of less happier lands, built by nature against infection and the hand of war.
This year is the bicentenary of the battle of Trafalgar, the apotheosis of Britain’s maritime mastery. A highlight of SeaBritain 2005, a year-long celebration of our maritime past, present and future, is the photographic exhibition The Coast Exposed now on show until January 8, 2006, in the 17th-century Queen’s House at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
The National Trust Photographic Library and Magnum Photos are showcasing