“The way we were taught history at school is about great heroes and great villains – but what gets left out is the idiots,” says Mikey Robins. History is a passion for the comedian, broadcaster and writer, who has published two previous books on the topic. And in his latest book, Idiots, Follies and Misadventures, Robins is interrogating our past from a slightly different angle.
“It’s a look back at some of the moments in human history where stupidity has had a hand in changing things,” he says. That includes, for instance, the story of Abraham Lincoln’s bodyguard the night the former US president was assassinated – the president’s minder left his post at Ford’s Theatre to get a drink next door because he found the play boring.
