WHY write a book about Essex? Well, one of my main reasons for writing The Joy of Essex is that it has more cultural baggage — some would say carried in a leopard skin suitcase — than any other county.
In 1990 Simon Heffer wrote a profile of Essex Man in the Sunday Telegraph and the image stuck through the decade of a geezer in a shiny suit who was "young, industrious, mildly brutish and culturally barren". His girlfriend was blonde, of course, and wore white stilettoes.
But in the new millennium Essex came to be seen as a more cultured and likeable place.
The public loved the genuineness of reality stars like Stacey Solomon, Matt Cardle and Olly Murs, of X Factor fame.
In 2011 the top three on I'm a Celebrity were Dougie Poynter, Mark Wright and Fatima Whitbread, all from Essex.
Jamie Oliver and Gavin and Stacey dominated the TV schedules while comedians such as Russell Brand, Phill Jupitus, Griff Rhys-Jones, Alan Davies and Lee Evans made the nation chuckle.
In 2010 The Only Way is Essex appeared on ITV. Love it or hate it, it was a huge ratings success and when I visited Minnies boutique a hen party from Sunderland was down for a night out at Sugar Hut.
Having grown up in Brentwood it was astonishing to see the old dormitory town becoming a tourist hot spot.
Yes, the show was stereotypical, but there was a warmth and humour to some of the characters that people liked, plus that great Essex argot where people get "the right ravin' 'ump".
And like most people in Essex the Towie stars had an entrepreneurial bent, working very hard at being famous for being famous.
Personally I enjoyed most of Towie and think the county is mature enough to laugh at its own image.
Everyone now has an idea of Essex, as was proved by the case of the Essex Lion this summer. When a lion was supposedly sighted at St Osyth the spoof Essex Lion Twitter account, set up by actor Eddie Bowley, gained an astonishing 40,000 followers in 24 hours.
The Essex Lion was soon trending with comments such as "I'm going to Lakeside for a Nandos and perhaps a young family" and "Leave him alone Simba, he ain't wurf it!" Would the Bedfordshire or Hertfordshire Lion have caused anywhere near as much of a media lion-feeding frenzy?
There was another reason for writing The Joy of Essex. Essex made me the man I am today. The death of your parents inevitably results in a period of reflection and a desire to explore the haunts of your youth.
At university and when I moved to London my peers would laugh at Essex's more absurd stereotypes of furry dice in done-up Cortinas, yet also think it conferred street credibility. Was being an Essex Man an embarrassment or a badge of honour?
Most of my lasting friendships were with my Essex peers. And returning home brought the revelation that Essex wasn't a bad place at all; in fact, it was rather special.
My humour was fashioned by Essex, and much of my career had been spent chronicling the astonishing array of Essex talent done good.
There's certainly more to Essex than the Essex Man and Towie caricatures. What I found during my travels through Essex was a much-neglected county full of surprises.
Phill Jupitus showed me round his home at Leigh-on-Sea and eulogised about the low leaden skies across the estuary looking towards Kent. The world famous bluebells of Norsey Wood lie in the home town of Ian Dury's Billericay Dickie.
Colchester has the best Roman gateway in Britain, stunning Roman walls and the foundations of the temple sacked by Boudicca. Posh bits of Essex like Saffron Walden offer tea dances and turf mazes. Maldon has sailing barges and a lovely muddy river estuary.
Canvey Island boasts a site of special scientific interest on the site of a proposed oil refinery with more biodiversity than anywhere else in Britain.
Amid the container parks of Tilbury there's the best-preserved low-profiled artillery fort in the country, where Queen Elizabeth I made her famous speech to the troops. My old village of Great Warley offers Miss Willmott's lovely ruined gardens at Warley Place.
There's a not very secret nuclear bunker at Kelvedon Hatch where the government would have hidden in the event of a nuclear war. And for once I was able to tell my wife that I really had provided jam today, clutching three jars from the factory of Wilkin & Son in Tiptree after a tour among the strawberries.
Essex is ripe for humour too. One of the highlights of my road trip was scaling the Hollywood-style Basildon sign on the A127, which has a message on the back saying the metal is of limited scrap value. I even found the largest mirror in Essex at Sheesh in Chigwell.
Even in the most derided of locations there's also self-deprecating wit and a willingness to debunk pomposity. The locals in Basildon nicknamed the Festival Leisure Park Bas Vegas while the signs at Stanford-le-Hope are frequently changed to read "Stanford-no-Hope".
And the rest of the nation still seems fascinated by Essex. On May 8, 2012, Labour leader Ed Miliband visited Harlow in the morning to counter David Cameron and Nick Clegg's visit to the Fiat-owned New Holland tractor factory in Basildon and e2V in Chelmsford on the same day.
Two posh boys got down and dirty with a set of tractor-making blokes in polo shirts. In one episode of Towie, Joey Essex claimed there was a Prime Minister of Essex. Maybe he was right, as Cameron, Clegg and Miliband all appeared to want to be the Prime Minister of God's own county.
While the Northern Lights even turned up in Heybridge Basin this summer, prompting the thought that the film Local Hero might have been remade and set in the riverside village. And no, Aurora Borealis won't be appearing on Towie.
The Apprentice has virtually decamped to Essex with tasks set at Wilkins & Sons in Tiptree, Romford and Pitsea. Chelmsford-raised Grayson Perry had a huge TV hit with In The Best Possible Taste, where he dissected the nation's attitude to class. At the launch of his six Hogarthian tapestries he told The Guardian: "I have a thick crust of Islington but if you cut me, you find Essex there."
Which is a nice way of putting it. Cut me and you'll find Essex. The county has a huge influence on those of us brought up there. While Essex is always going to be a target for satire, it seems the rest of the nation is starting to love it too.
The Joy of Essex by Pete May is published by the Robson Press, £9.99.
