Description
Book SynopsisThis book is a riotous, irreverent account of the people and events that have shaped Britain. Always getting those kings and queens confused? Never sure what happened when? Then you need this book.
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1
Part I: The British Are Coming! 9
Chapter 1: So Much History, So Little Time 11
Chapter 2: Sticks and Stone Age Stuff 23
Chapter 3: Woad Rage and Chariots: The Iron Age in Britain 35
Part II: Everyone Else Is Coming! The Invaders 49
Chapter 4: Ruled Britannia 51
Chapter 5: Saxon, Drugs, and Rock ’n’ Roll 65
Chapter 6: Have Axe, Will Travel: The Vikings 81
Chapter 7: 1066 and All That Followed 97
Part III: Who’s in Charge Around Here? The Middle Ages 113
Chapter 8: England Gets an Empire 115
Chapter 9: A Right Royal Time – the Medieval Realms of Britain 129
Chapter 10: Plague, Pox, Poll Tax, and Ploughing – and Then You Die 147
Part IV: Rights or Royals? The Tudors and Stuarts 161
Chapter 11: Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown 163
Chapter 12: A Burning Issue: The Reformation 181
Chapter 13: Crown or Commons? 199
Chapter 14: Old Problems, New Ideas 217
Part V: On the Up: The Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries 231
Chapter 15: Let’s Make a Country 233
Chapter 16: Survival of the Richest: The Industrial Revolution 253
Chapter 17: Children of the Revolutions 267
Chapter 18: Putting On My Top Hat – The Victorians 285
Chapter 19: The Sun Never Sets – But It Don’t Shine Either 299
Part VI: Don’t Look Down: The Twentieth Century 315
Chapter 20: The Great War: The End of Innocence – and Everything Else? 317
Chapter 21: Radio Times 329
Chapter 22: TV Times 345
Chapter 23: Interesting Times 359
Part VII: The Part of Tens 377
Chapter 24: Ten Top Turning Points 379
Chapter 25: Ten Major Documents 383
Chapter 26: Ten Things the British Have Given the World (Whether the World Wanted Them or Not) 387
Chapter 27: Ten Great British Places to Visit 391
Chapter 28: Ten Britons Who Should Be Better Known 395
Index 401
