In the original dustsheet. Black cloth binding with gilt title on the spine.

• F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available.

Many of us were put off history by the dry and dreary way it was taught at school. Back then ‘The Origins of the Industrial Revolution’ somehow seemed less compelling than the chance to test the bold claim on Timothy Johnson’s ‘Shatterproof’ ruler.But here at last is a chance to have a good laugh and learn all that stuff you feel you really ought to know by now…

In this ‘Horrible History for Grown Ups’ you can read how Anglo-Saxon liberals struggled to be positive about immigration; ‘Look I think we have to try and respect the religious customs of our new Viking friends – oi, he’s nicked my bloody ox!’Discover how England’s peculiar class system was established by some snobby French nobles whose posh descendents still have wine cellars and second homes in the Dordogne today. And explore the complex socio-economic reasons why Britain’s kings were the first in Europe to be brought to heel; (because the Stuarts were such a useless bunch of untalented, incompetent, arrogant, upper-class thickoes that Parliament didn’t have much choice.)

A book about then that is also incisive and illuminating about now, ‘2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge’, is an hilarious, informative and cantankerous journey through Britain’ fascinating and bizarre history.As entertaining as a witch burning, and a lot more laughs.

Reviews:

• From 55 BC to 1945, An Utterly Impartial History of Britain informs, explains, but most of all laughs at the seemingly incomprehensible rollercoaster of events that make up the story of Great Britain. Packed with great characters trapped in impossible dilemmas, this true-life drama will have you on the edge of your seats thinking ‘I wonder which of them dies at the end?’ (Well, they all do obviously. It was ages ago.)

• As entertaining as a witch burning and a lot more laughs.

• Mum, Dad, the Second Crusade is starting! Can we put a St George’s flag on the cart?’ No dear, we don’t want everyone to think Daddy is a builder.’

• You have simply got to admire a book that condenses 2000 years of English history into less than 600 pages. That it also manages to weave the events together in the style of a page-turning novel makes it all the more satisfying and probably one the most enjoyable historical books I’ve ever read. A remarkable achievement. O’Farrell has an excellent comic touch that really livens up the book. For example, he tells us that Charles I is listed in the Guinness book of records as being our shortest ever monarch, then adding … “he was even shorter after they chopped off his head”! I particularly like the way that occasionally he freezes a particular historical situation and drags it into the modern era to either highlight the absurdities of modern-day life or to use it as an analogy to underline the historical significance of the moment. For example, blaming the Normans and William the Conqueror in particular, on the modern practice of serving wine only at garden parties to effect some sort of fake (Norman) sophistication when what’s really needed is a cold glass of thirst-quenching (Anglo-Saxon) Hofmeister!

• Strangely, I find myself able to sympathise with many reviewers, both the lovers and the loathers. I’m not a Guardian reader, so O’Farrell was new to me; nor do I have a left wing chip on my shoulder, so I had to learn where he was coming from and make allowances. And in fairness I should confess that my awareness of history is patchy: school concentrated on the Tudors without igniting any hidden bonfires in me (not enough football and cricket for a start). Late in life I have woken up to what I was missing and now, prompted often by a favourable review, my reading includes rewarding dips into random periods and people; just how random may be discerned from my contributions to this forum. Interestingly, C J Ransom’s fictional Sheldrake quartet has sent me back to the Tudors with fresh appetite. However, overarching history, from Caesar to Churchill, had a lot of blanks which O’Farrell’s book has helped to rectify. And having lived through a slice of the later chapters, I have had some yardstick to measure by. As history, then, two thousand years in five hundred pages, it is inevitably somewhat superficial but has some smart ideas for identifying threads.

• John O’Farrell says that this is not another ‘1066 And All That’, but that is what it is. The difference is that the humour is up-to-date and the facts really are true. I got the lowest possible grade for history but I loved this book. John gives a clear and very concise summary of an event then rounds it off with a stunning volley of wit that makes you laugh at the same time as nodding sagely about its truth. Mostly he relates things from the past to similar events happening now, usually to devastating effect. Showing that Oliver Cromwell’s reign was similar to the Taliban was truly masterly. His anti-monarchy opinions are clear from the sub-title, but even if you do not agree with them – though I do – there is so much here to challenge your ideas. You are not left with a feeling of hopelessness and frustration as with so many books critical about politics. John gets the message across clearly that though our bosses and rulers are mostly useless at best and malign at worst, Britain’s system is much better than it was and much better than lots of others. This is a unique thing – a history book you can’t put down.

John O’Farrell (born 27 March 1962) is a British author, comedy scriptwriter, and political campaigner. Previously a lead writer for such shows as Spitting Image and Have I Got News for You, he is now best known as a comic author for such books as The Man Who Forgot His Wife and An Utterly Impartial History of Britain. He is one of a small number of British writers to have achieved best-seller status with both fiction and nonfiction. He has also published three collections of his weekly column for The Guardian and set up Britain’s first daily satirical news website NewsBiscuit. With comedian Angela Barnes, he co-hosts the light-hearted historical podcast We Are History. O’Farrell co-wrote the musical Something Rotten!, which opened on Broadway in April 2015, and co-wrote a Broadway musical of Mrs. Doubtfire which opened on Broadway in December 2021 and in London’s West End in May 2023. In September 2017, he published Things Can Only Get Worse?, a sequel to the 1998 political memoir that originally made his name. His books have been translated into around thirty languages and adapted for radio and television.