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Unruly

A History of England's Kings and Queens

by David Mitchell

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Narrator David Mitchell

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Length 11 hours 39 minutes

Language English

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Summary
About the author
About the narrator

Brought to you by Penguin.

Discover who we are and how we got here by pre-ordering comedian and student of history David Mitchell's UNRULY: A History of England's Kings and Queens - a thoughtful, funny exploration of the founding fathers and mothers of England, and subsequently Britain.

Think you know your kings and queens? Think again.

In UNRULY, David Mitchell explores how England's monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects' destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky sods who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear today in their portraits.

Taking us right back to King Arthur (spoiler: he didn't exist), David tells the founding story of post-Roman England right up to the reign of Elizabeth I (spoiler: she dies). It's a tale of narcissists, inadequate self-control, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and at least one total Cnut, as the population evolved from having their crops nicked by the thug with the largest armed gang to bowing and paying taxes to a divinely anointed king.

How this happened, who it happened to and why it matters in modern Britain are all questions David answers with brilliance, wit and the full erudition of a man who once studied history - and won't let it off the hook for the mess it's made.

A funny book about a serious subject, UNRULY is for anyone who has ever wondered how we got here - and who is to blame.

Read by David Mitchell.

©2023 David Mitchell (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Biography & Memoir History Humor Nonfiction

David Mitchell (Author)
David Mitchell is a BAFTA Award-winning actor, writer and comedian who has starred in many of the UK's best-loved TV shows, including Peep Show, That Mitchell and Webb Look and Upstart Crow. He is a team captain on Would I Lie to You? (BBC One), the host of The Unbelievable Truth on Radio 4 and one of the Observer's most popular columnists. Unruly: A History of England's Kings and Queens is his first history book.

David Mitchell (Reader)
David Mitchell is a BAFTA Award-winning actor, writer and comedian who has starred in many of the UK's best-loved TV shows, including Peep Show, That Mitchell and Webb Look and Upstart Crow. He is a team captain on Would I Lie to You? (BBC One), the host of The Unbelievable Truth on Radio 4 and one of the Observer's most popular columnists. Unruly: A History of England's Kings and Queens is his first history book.

Audiobook details

Author David Mitchell

Narrator David Mitchell

ISBN 9780241605929

Length 11 hours 39 minutes

Language English

Publisher Penguin Books Ltd

Publication date September 28, 2023

Edition Unabridged

Genres Biography & Memoir, History, Humor & Nonfiction

Libro.fm rank #1,156 Overall

Genre rank #66 in History

Reviews

Chatty, irreverent and liberally sprinkled with gags and opinions. Horrible Histories with added swearing. [A] rollicking (and bracingly sweary) account . . . Amid the jokes, Mitchell offers a thoughtful argument about the relationship between the monarchy and our sense of national identity Full of jokes and canny insights, 100 per cent sparkier and more revernt than your school textbooks Provocative, energeticlly comical, unortodox. Stuffed full of comical scenes and anecdotes, which only an author with a fine sense of the absurd could give us. He brings his typically wry style to an exploration of England's monarchy A historical tour of English rulers in a book that is like no history lesson you've had to endure before. A semi-serious book full of weird and wonderful spectacle, scandal, and brutality. I don’t think anyone other than David Mitchell could have written this book. It’s clever, funny and makes you think quite differently about history we thought we knew I can’t recommend this book enough. Very funny and interesting, it is above all a proper work of history Who knew a history of England's rulers could be this hilarious? A brilliantly entertaining romp through monarchs. By turns fascinating and funny - there is a jewel of an insight or a refreshing blast of clarifying wit on every page. David brings a delightfully contrary and hilariously cantankerous eye to the history of the English Monarchy. Informative, illuminating and very very funny Unruly is part Horrible Histories part jolly romp guided by Alan Bennett. Perhaps this is how history should be done: not by patient scholars, but by free-swearing actor-comedians cramming more ideas and jokes into their pages than many professionals have committed to print in their careers. Mitchell clearly knows his history, with a book that owes as much to Monty Python as it does to Simon Schama An enjoyable, rollicking read, definitely not a conventional history book I relished a crash course in English history with comedian David Mitchell’s ambitious Unruly. Clever, amusing, gloriously bizarre and razor sharp. Mitchell - a funny man and a skilled historian - tells stories that are interesting and fun. His rants alone are worth the price of the book. And amid all the jokes and delightful nonsense, Mitchell sneaks in a serious message about English identity. Here is Horrible Histories for grownups - stripped of their finery, devoid of reverence, UNRULY's monarchs emerge as mortals with ordinary flaws. I learnt a lot and laughed a lot, and people who have never before picked up a history book will read and enjoy this one. That's an accomplishment A Peep Show history of England A riotously funny romp through one thousand or so years of English history. I cannot remember the last time I laughed as much as I did listening to Unruly. Mitchell’s take on history is unremittingly funny as well as insightful. There are so many exquisite turns of phrase. I had to stop listening whilst cooking for fear I’d drop red-hot pans, I was shaking with laughter so much. A Punch-and-Judy show of awful people doing terrible things to one another. There is refreshing candour in how it calls out the bastards, bullies and brats who have donned England’s highest-carat hats. Above all, it’s a funny read, playful and well-meaning . . . told in a fizzing and indignant style, rammed with entertaining tangents. A sleek rod of Mitchell, fired from a rail gun, passing straight through the reader’s skull Expand reviews

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