The travel writer who claims many Braintree women are ''as ugly as sea monsters'' spoke exclusively to This Is Essex this week in an East London pub.

Bespectacled Bill Murphy defended his scathing comments that have outraged townspeople, insisting it was not a publicity stunt.

Mr Murphy denied he was a practical joker, but admitted the resulting media attention had helped to attract three potential publishers.

Provisionally titled, A Jaunt Around The Decaying Heart of Britain, he said his book contains strong comments, not only on Braintree, but other English towns and cities.

On top of his sea monsters jibe, Mr Murphy says Braintree has:

probably the ugliest collection of people in the UK outside Wales.

the most humourless collection of people outside Germany

a severe drought of manners

estates made up of car breakers and drug dealers

too many unmarried mothers

"Everyone in Braintree is talking about me and my views and there are now three publishers interested,'' he claimed.

''On Friday morning l have been invited to appear on an early morning TV chat show.''

Asked if he was wearing the wig as a disguise because he feared being identified by angry Braintree residents, Mr Murphy insisted it was his own hair.

"It's mine," he said, patting the nylon hairpiece, which bobbed up and down as he spoke in The Birdcage public house, Hackney.

Mr Murphy had refused to be interviewed at his home address and when asked to produce identification documents he apologised saying he had left them all at home.

But he insisted: "This is not a stunt, I genuinely believe that Braintree is awful, but unlike other travel writers I tell the truth."

Mr Murphy, 38 and single, said he was a freelance travel writer in pursuit of the truth and that often the truth hurt.

He never wanted to see Braintree again, a town which he claimed had no redeeming qualities.

"I make no apology for what I am saying about Braintree women. I spent 48 hours in the town earlier this year and found that many of them are as ugly as sea monsters."

Mr Murphy said he went to Braintree after being invited to comment on the Essex town by business colleague, Simon Burgess, who lived in Braintree before moving to Wethersfield last January.

Lloyds broker, Mr Burgess, managing partner of Goodfellow, Rebecca, Ingrams, Pearson (GRIP) claimed that when publishers refused to offer a good price for the travel book he advised Mr Murphy to "tell the media" in order to spark a bidding war.

Mr Burgess, who hit the headlines when he insured a Finchingfield chicken for £1million, backed up Mr Murphy's story, saying it was not a hoax.

"I contacted a press agency and a journalist put the story out to the media. It has appeared all over Essex and was even in the Sun," said Mr Burgess.

He claimed that since extracts were made public he had received threats on the telephone and planned to steer clear of the town.

"The only good thing about it is the M11 heading south," added an unrepentant Mr Murphy, who says he will never, ever, go to Braintree again.

Bill Murphy, left, discusses his book with Simon Burgess in a Hackney pub.

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