The laureate of the Blackpool landlady, the slightly damp mattress, and the ominous stain on the bedroom ceiling was yesterday appointed watchman over all such treasures - along with Hadrian's Wall, Stonehenge, and the site of the battle of Hastings.

"I feel very seriously humble and overawed," the travel writer, Bill Bryson, said last night after his first meeting as a newly appointed English Heritage commissioner.

Bryson, 51, came to England from the US and married an English nurse. He returned to America in 1995, after writing his most famous book, Notes From a Small Island, which shot to the top of the bestseller lists. Earlier this year readers voted its miasma of rain, wet overcoats and chip fat as being the book that best evoked the spirit of contemporary Britain.

Unlike another American chronicler, Paul Theroux, who had earlier taken a similar route and became ever more bileful and bitter, Bryson ended his pilgrimage at John O'Groats as helplessly affectionate as when he began it at Land's End.

He subsequently spent eight years in the States, pining - he said yesterday - for Radio 4, the English sense of humour, and Branston pickle, before returning three months ago with his family, to live in Norfolk. He is the second American to be appointed to the board of the heritage quango, after Loyd Grossman, television chef and passionate advocate of museums.

His was among half a dozen appointments announced yesterday by the culture secretary, Tessa Jowell, including environmentalist Maria Adebowale, planner Joyce Bridges, and the Marquess of Douro.

Bryson said: "I'm not the only person who loves England, but I'm one of the few prepared to be vocal about it. Millions of other people feel the same, but they just stand around in an embarrassed silence, in that very English way."