The magazine was started in 1968 by Roy Faiers of Lincolnshire, who held it as a private company (This England International Ltd.). Faiers remained editor-in-chief until 2009, when he sold the company to DC Thomson, owners of the Sunday Post, Beano, Dandy, The People's Friend, My Weekly and other publications. Faiers was succeeded as editor by his former deputy editor, Stephen Garnett, who in turn was succeeded by current editor, Angela Linforth.

The name This England comes from the declamations of John of Gaunt in Act II, Scene I of Shakespeare's King Richard II: "This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle... This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England."

The magazine started with the slogan "As refreshing as a cup of tea!" Current issues describe themselves as "For all who love our green and pleasant land".

This England is an apolitical celebration of England's people, places, art and culture. Content focuses on England's past and present, with regular feature strands including “Historic Homes of England”; “The Prime Ministers” which looks back on Britain's former PMs and“Explore England” which provides a travel itinerary for pockets of the country in each issue. “Great Britons” focuses on England's exceptional characters past and present; “Made in England” celebrates current English makers and “Heritage Church” features a range of English churches.

Although Jeremy Paxman once remarked in his The English, p. 79, that the magazine's greatest enemy was "the march of time", claiming that "not one article in the magazine looks forward to the future”, that has changed more recently.

As well as its regulars, it also has plenty of quirky one-off features on anything from the birth of aviation to highway women to England's first tea plantation.

https://jeremypaxman.co.uk/book/the-english

• This England (publisher's site)