52 Times Britain was a Bellend: The History You Didn't Get Taught At School

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The prior history of Ireland is a case in point, in that the first few decades of independence, while having full formal political and economic sovereignty, consisted of decline and near collapse. In this, the British press has not always been noted for the quality of its reporting and analysis, witnessed by its invention of the literary genre of 'imaginary regulations absurdism', with such items as the permitted curvature of bananas, and countless other canards. Ireland did of course try to attain actual economic independence, by protectionism and autarky, but unfortunately this didn’t work. James Felton tries to inject some humour along the way, but it still makes grim reading, and there were a few incidences where I was genuinely horrified. We went to a small museum in the north of England which had a major display about the slave trade and trading triangle and I was amazed because I had never heard of that and never associated slavery with Great Britain.

This is a good introduction to that, and I look forward to finding out more, however negative or positive it is. There are many other examples, of both positive and negative elements, which could be mentioned, but the cherry-picking issue regarding history has been sufficiently identified. I gave up half way through, as I found the unrelenting sarcasm, cynicism and self-righteousness too much. Jingoistic notions of British exceptionalism and misguided notions of a benign British Empire have been fostered by populist demagogues like Johnson. James expertly weaves fascinating historical nuggets of Britain's bellendery with some obscenely funny jokes, so we're confident that his book will transfer perfectly to TV.It's more a grab bag of things to trot out to sound superior whilst engaging in pointless internet argument than a cogent warning of the evils of empire. The painfully funny history of Britain you were never taught at school, chronicling some of the ludicrous things the British have done to the world since time immemorial - and then conveniently forgetting we've done them, of course. This is a good gift for those acquaintances who aren't particularly clued up on British history, but don't half love to bang on about how great Britain is. There are some unknown historical incidents in here that merit a much longer take, it could have benefitted from half as many chapters that are twice as long.

My only criticism is that I find each passage is too short and could do with some more detail to provide better context.I continually thought throughout of the "those who do not know their history are damned to repeat it", as it is sad, but easy to draw parallels to the acts which continue to be carried out today. If you want to read a glorious history of Britain, this book is not for you - but if you want to know the truth, this is a great introduction. I expected to already be familiar with most of the content, given the fact that I read up a lot on world history, in general, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a whole lot that was new to me. Twitter hero James Felton brings you the painfully funny history of Britain you were never taught at school, fully illustrated and chronicling 52 of the most ludicrous, weird and downright ‘baddie’ things we Brits* have done to the world since time immemorial – before conveniently forgetting all about them, of course.

Not only this, it’s an informative read, truly shocking me about our nations history and opening my eyes to the racist, homophobic and sexist nation that we are- which is saying something given our current society. For those other European countries are shown to have an inferior national character by virtue of their willingness to continue with the EU project, and so to deny their independence, and therefore, as it is imagined, own true nature.Twitter hero James Felton brings you the painfully funny history of Britain you were never taught at school, fully illustrated and chronicling 52 of the most ludicrous, weird and downright 'baddie' things we Brits* have done to the world since time immemorial - before conveniently forgetting all about them, of course. I therefore feel harsh to criticise what is a well-written and well-meaning book which will be the stimulus for further and more in-depth reading on my part. It shouldn't really be the case - how poorly we British treated our own, our colonial subjects, our neighbours and rivals shouldn't feel lessened by repetition or by a humorous/satirical treatment.

However, the spray paint and graffiti applied by the BLM demonstrators will be left in place to reflect modern opinion and the history of Bristol.There are also some surprisingly bad edits in the narration - the chapter on Richard the Lionheart is particulary messy. I read an article in the Guardian recently that pointed out that most British history syllabuses completely skip over Britain’s role in its colonies and the slave trade, putting the onus on glorifying British Abolitionists such as Wilberforce. Emily Barrett from the publisher says: "James' book is that wonderful combination of hilarious and informative (with a pinch of self-loathing that we Brits are either excellent at or need to become so as a matter of urgency). In these ways, this overwrought version of English nationalism, by its evasive reading of history, conspiracy theorising, and fanaticism, is the perverse force that will likely cause what will be the former countries of the UK to rejoin the EU, separately, at some not too distant date.