I Never Knew That About the English

by Christopher Winn

This wonderful book takes an affectionate, entertaining and perceptive look at the English people. Here are their traditions, foibles, quirks, customs, humour and achievements, triumphs and failures, peccadilloes and passions. Travel through England from coast to coast and learn how every county contributes in unique and different ways to the distinct English personality. Marvel at crooked black and white halls in Cheshire and soft golden stone cottages in Midland villages. Go cheese rolling in Gloucestershire, discover the origins of cricket in Hampshire, savour a hot pot in Lancashire and a pudding in Yorkshire. Gasp at the glories of stately homes and the families that create them, upstairs and down, enjoy a pint. Listen to the memories and tales of ordinary folk from every walk of life and find out from them what it means to be English. This irresistible book will entertain and inform for hours on end.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature, Travel

368 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2008

Reviews

[Niamh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book goes through each county and explains the history relating to that and famous people who have been born there. Interesting facts and trivia

[Wilmington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compiling facts and trivia about England and the English people is a great idea for a book. Actually it is quite a page turner, easy to read and enjoyable. I would deserve 4 or 5 stars had it not been for two things.

First, there are plenty of factual mistakes and exaggerations. Here are examples just in the Lancashire section. Liverpool Cathedral is not "the largest cathedral in the whole of Christendom after St. Peter's in Rome" (p.154). Whether you calculate in area, volume or capacity, there are at least five larger cathedrals, including Seville Cathedral, Milan Cathedral and St. John the Divine in New York. On p.152 it says that John of Gaunt got his name "from his birthplace, the Dutch city of Ghent". Ghent is a Belgian city, or historically a Flemish one, but certainly not a Dutch one.

Secondly, I found the author to be quite biased in his selection, giving unwarranted importance to people and places linked to Christianity (3 pages on John Bunyan, 3 pages on St George, 2 pages on St Cuthbert, 2 pages on John and Charles Wesley, and 2-3 pages on major cathedrals and abbeys) and what appears to be his personal interests (horse races and cricket), but concedes very little space to prominent English scientists. There is not even an entry for Isaac Newton, let alone other great names of the Royal Society ! Only Darwin gets mentioned, but Mr Winn didn't think he deserved more space than Derby Day or Grand National.

[Emma Dargue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good snapshots of the famous people and places within each county in England. Found out things I never knew about and found it really interesting to look back England's history outside of being within the UK or Great Britain. Good book.

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and full of interesting tidbits of fact

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was fun to dip into.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most interesting..

[Tabatha Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost identical to his other book ‘I never new that about England’. Very interesting though