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

Basically, the book's title says it all. Little known stories (I wonder why?!) about terrible behaviour for reasons of money, or prestige, or ego, or madness, or just because we can. I'm a proud Englishmen but the things that have been done in the name of my country in years gone by - well, only a few are documented here - make me hang my head in shame. A good book, with easy and to the point chapters, outlining naughty and horrible stuff. And all written with a sense both of outrage and humour (in a sarcastic way). Highly recommended.

Enjoyed the book, thought the final comments were a bit wide of the mark. So to put the record straight. After 1066 the whole of England and all it’s people were OWNED By the Normans (Viking’s who had settled in Normandy). The English people were slaves/serfs. Over the next 900 years Wales, Scotland and Ireland were added to make Britain. The ordinary people had no say in what the rich powerful and privileged class did here or around the world. First change 1867 some ordinary men over 30 allowed to vote. 1919 all men over 21 and some women over 30 allowed to vote. 1972 all men and women over 18 allowed to vote. So more accurately 52 times Britain’s rich and powerful were complete bellends.

This is an informative and amusing book on what for some may be a difficult subject, although not so difficult a subject that the most dishonest reviewer would throw their *Kindle Edition* in 'the bin', surely? To understand your country you must accept its flaws, and we are taught far too little about this in school. To have them served up in well written and wryly observed segments means that you can dip in and out of the book, use it as a platform for further investigation, or read through it all in one go. Felton has a well defined comedic sensibility, but even if you don't *get* the humour, the historical content itself is worth your time. Pace yourself to one entry per week if you want, and you can get a whole year of instances of national bellendery for your money. Not only do I rate this text highly, I also look forward to more from the same author.

Each of these historical episodes is condensed to a page or so of sardonic despair (with a playful cartoon). The text is breezy, easy and queasy, splattered with profanity and disdain. Given the gravity of many of the entries, I sometimes hungered for a little more fact and a little less mirth; but the book amply fulfils its aim of an exhilarating gallop through some of the lowlights of our history.

Great value for money

I really enjoyed the writing in this, it was funny but also informative.

Absolutely hilarious and sobering look at how beyond maniacal our great nation is. Love a good pisstake of Britain x

Bought this for my dad for Christmas as he is into history. I wasnt sure if he would already know everything that was in the book as he is very knowledgable. He messaged me yesterday to say he has just finished reading it and in his words...... Finished the book, very interesting, lot of things I knew, and lots of things i didn’t. So on that note i would say it was a very good purchase, well received present for someone who is interested in British History etc. I have asked him to bring it the next time he comes so i can read it myself.

James Felton has taken 52 historical incidents, mostly bad-to-awful, and somehow made them both funny and informative. Britain (like America) has done some truly horrible things, and history books tend to slide over the worst events. Reading about them with a humorous tone is really effective. Felton is a smart and funny writer, and I really loved this book.

Was well written and kept all the tunes we were bellends to a readable chunk. I think this could be the first of several volumes.

If you are looking for a Christmas present for your nearest and dearest, or even just a good friend, this book is ideal. It is interesting and well-researched, giving us a glimpse into parts of our history that we would prefer weren’t scrutinised at all, when the British (well, the English, really) weren’t at their finest, to put it mildly. I expect most countries will have skeletons hiding in their historical closets, but not all will have authors willing to scramble around in the detritus and dust to shine a light in them. James Felton does so with the required amount of humour to balance the horror of those horrible histories. The format is excellent, with a cartoon illustration on the one page and a shortish explanation of the historical fact on the facing page. Some of these are funny, some quirky, some downright horrendous. There are 52 of these histories, one for each week of the year...but it won’t take a year to read the book! I’m already looking forward to the next book.

Good read. Good timing for release.

Excellent book... but what I presume are the illustrations refuse to download to my phone, leaving a lot of blank pages.