US author Bill Bryson is the new president of the Campaign To Protect Rural England.

Bryson shot to Fame with his tale of traipsing the British landscape Notes From A Small Island, a book littered with paeans to the disappearing face of traditional England.

He immediately said he would use his position to stop people leaving rubbish around the countryside.

"One of the few things that really upsets me in this country is litter, it's heartbreaking," Bryson said. "I don't have the first idea how to run a national campaign, I have always just sounded off, but this time I am determined to change people's behaviour."

He also wants politicians to take the issue seriously. "As soon as the CPRE gives me headed notepaper I will be writing to Gordon Brown and David Cameron. Politicians need to put litter high on the agenda, issue more tickets and make the penalties hurt.”

The author proposes to fund the cleaning up of the countryside through fines. "There are a million episodes of fly tipping every year. If you caught three per cent of those people with stake-outs or secret cameras and you fined them, you could raise over £75 million to spend on improving the countryside. Towns have litter wardens, we need them everywhere, to fine the banks that don't leave bins for all their ATM slips. We need to make everyone responsible for their patch."

Unlike his predecessor, Sir Max Hastings, he has no interest in hunting or shooting. "I have never hunted. I don't quite see the point of it, it's a British thing that is confusing to an outsider," he said. "Nothing about shooting appeals to me either and I have never fished, it is the most boring possible human activity. But fisherman look quite tranquil and bucolic."

But he warns that the countryside is facing huge problems. "I don't feel suicidal but certain parts of it are deteriorating, the hedgerows and woodland is going, British pubs are vanishing as well as shops," he said.

His main aim, though, is to make the British proud of their countryside again. "You are very lucky to have so much. Iowa is the same size as England, but I would struggle to find six places to show you. Here you have a wealth of beautiful places. You have taken them too much for granted."