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

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that being said, it’s a good jumping off point to do your own googling, and is a really accessible way of bringing light to serious issues which are rarely spoken about in britain and would probably recommend for that alone! While these elements are good things, and England/Britain did have a lot of agency in their creation and dissemination, and this should be acknowledged, it would yet be untruthful to say that the whole history of this polity can be expressed in these terms. This is a relatively short read, which highlights the horrendous acts of our predecessors, and, believe me, they certainly did not cover themselves in glory, to say the least! 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.

Perhaps it detracts from the seriousness of the issues ever so slightly, but I heartily enjoyed it nonetheless. His books 52 Times Britain was a Bellend, Sunburn and You Don't Want to Know have between them sold over 125,000 copies. And then consider the fact you should be more offended by what humans have done to each other over the years (and even worse - cherry picking what they wish to remember and promote), than a bit of strong language.There are also some surprisingly bad edits in the narration - the chapter on Richard the Lionheart is particulary messy. 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. Never-the-less, James has a great way with words and what he shares is both educational, embarrassing and infuriating!

This is, again, because it concentrates inordinately on the mere idea of sovereignty, but completely neglects the actual operation of it. Rarely taking more than 3 pages per incident of bellendery, Felton takes us through, funnily enough, 52 times Britain was so moustache twirlingly twatty that you have to think what the hell were people thinking. There are of course some parallels with Brexit Britain here, for the UK is gaining the window dressing of independence, but not alas enough of its substance. This is a good introduction to that, and I look forward to finding out more, however negative or positive it is.

Having said that, the book is also very funny and the audiobook narrator delivers it with perfect timing and style. 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. 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. Personal highlights from the book, nearly going to war with America over a pig, getting an elephant regularly blind drunk on wine, cleaning chimneys with a goose and paying slave owners 40% of the nation's yearly budget in compensation for losing their slaves, taking out a loan to do so, one which we only finished paying off in 2015.

Felton has a true knack for making the worst of our history laugh out loud funny, which I did many a time reading this book. Brexit is daily proof of the peril of thinking it is enough just to "be British" and the rest of the world will do as we desire.And so long as the EU didn’t exist, as an economic and political organisation in which we could for the first time participate as equals, the future for Ireland would not have been likely great. 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. The three minutes or so dedicated to each historical incident is fine for some cases - but I don't think you can have a three minute "wry sideways glance" at concentration camps. As the title suggests, the author takes us through a list of the bad things we’ve done throughout history - including the often insane reasons we use to justify them. 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.

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. 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.

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. 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.