Stick a Flag in It: 1,000 Years of Bizarre History from Britain and Beyond

Arran Lomas brings us a thousand years of British history. The glorious wars, beheadings, hangings, drawings, quarterings, monarchies, charters, exploration, exploitation, and civilization of what was once the greatest empire on earth.This was quite fun to read. It's all in little bits and pieces, and reading it is rather like eating potato chips. You're just going to read a chapter. Next thing you know, you've plowed through the book and you're done, but it was quite enjoyable. Lomas is an affable and clever author. He can tell a horrifying story and have you laughing while you're reading it. You needn't be a serious history buff to enjoy, but if you're serious, you'll enjoy it too. Even the youngsters could enjoy this - it's such a pity we don't appreciate history when we're young - but it is graphic and there is some foul language. Nothing that offended me, but worth considering for a young reader.In fact, I think this would make a lovely gift for anyone who reads. It's lively and engaging, and while the events depicted are at times unsavory, the story telling never falters. Mr. Lomas is not an historian, but he's the author you wish was your history teacher.This is Lomas's first book, and as such, exceeds my expectations. I look forward to more books on various subjects, because I'm sure this has been quite the success. It was definitely worthy my money.

The title says it all. :)The author uses his same witty remarks as always, but only in a book.

Informative but with a light hearted bent- covers England history from the very beginning to almost current times. I like a long book when it keeps my interest and this one did.

I love the author's YouTube videos, so I was interested to see if his book was as entertaining as his videos are. I wasn't disappointed. I only had a small understanding of British history and I found this book an easy read, very entertaining, hard to put down and very educational! I definitely learned a lot. I loaned it to my mother who is always watching British costume dramas about Henry VIII, etc. and she loved it. The royal family trees on the early pages are extremely useful for keeping track of who's who.

I really enjoyed this book! The writer has a YouTube channel that I also love watching. He has a great sense of humor & gives a lot of information on each topic. Great read!

It was both educational and exhilarating, the authors passion for history is clearly reflected in the writing. This book definitely connects the dots so to speak of history. Not only answering the questions of why did this happen and why should I (the reader) care? But it managers to humanize the history making it enjoyably relatable and inspiring.

Highly entertaining take on history.

This is a great book!

As an avid viewer of Arran's youtube channel Thoughty2 ("Heyyyyy, Thoughty2 here!"), I just had to buy his book and it didn't disappoint. Informative and humourous...I love ancient history and it's written how I wish school history books had been written! Far more interesting and engaging!! By the way if you enjoy this book, I urge you to check out Thoughty2....a plethera of videos on a tonne of fascinating facts on lots of different topics. Arran, please don't stop making your videos, we LOVE them!! :)

Firstly, I’m a big fan of Arran’s Thoughty2 YouTube channel. It’s diverse, witty and colourful and covers an extremely wide range of topics. When I heard he was releasing a book, I picked one up immediately. It didn’t disappoint at all and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The book is packed with really interesting facts and takes you on a detailed walk through a thousand years of British history. Arran’s unique perspective raises more than a few laughs with some of the hilarious chapter titles being a personal highlight. All in all, I’d highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun way to learn more about the origins of the great nation we know as the United Kingdom.

I can read this and hear Arran's voice reading it in my mind! Love this book, even the title sums up our British attitude (find it, claim it's ours, stick a flag in it as proof, ignore any indigenous population's claims to the contrary). More to the point, this book lays out the more accurate, humourous version of the past as opposed to the "Hollywood", sparkly shiny versions of events (don't get me started on Braveheart, what a bucket of bovine ordure that was, e.g. Edward I didn't delicately cough his last in a castle, he shat himself to death on Burgh Marsh near Carlisle. Put THAT on the big screen Mel Gibson...). Recommended reading for GCSE's and A levels. Possibly. Anyhow, buy this for Christmas for the totally clueless amongst family and friends, not to mention anyone else you know. Well recommended.

I bought this as a birthday gift for my husband who is an avid follower of the television programme. He is really pleased and enjoying reading it. Thank you

A very funny slant on History, if they taught it like this in schools it would be fun. Well worth the money and worth the time to read.