This Sceptred Isle (Christopher Lee)

This magnificent book covers British history from the Roman invasion up to the death of Queen Victoria. As the partner to a BBC series, the style is more conversational than lecturing, and certainly held me captured throughout the centuries of brutal wheeling and dealing that describes British leaders and history. If I have one criticism, it is the excessive quoting from Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples and quotations from letters throughout. Perhaps as a BBC series, this added to the reconstruction of history, but in a book this appears to pad the writer's story with too many words from the mouths of others. This criticism aside, I was completely held by the book to complete my way through a a description of the historical and political background to the British state.

With reasoning of the British approach to church, state, empire and religion placed beside the mundane roots of words and phrases, this book maintains depth without becoming too high-brow and speeds at a relentless pace through the twists of fate, power and brokerage that brought the British state to its twentieth century position.Having been bored by history at school, I found this a refreshing way to learn about subjects I had ignored for may years.