In his introduction to Unruly, the comedian and Observer columnist David Mitchell says his book is “an anecdotal explanation of England, focusing on what I find most interesting. More often than not, that has something to do with a person wearing a sparkly metal hat.” A sort of Horrible Histories with added swearing, Unruly is divided into sections including Pre-Willy, meaning before 1066; The Dukes of Hazard (which speeds through two Williams, two Henrys, a Stephen, Richard and John); Here Comes the Reign Again (Henry III followed by three Edwards), and Everything’s Coming Up Roses (everyone else up to Elizabeth I).
Narrated by Mitchell in his customarily sardonic RP tones, the book doesn’t aim for academic seriousness. Instead, it is chatty, irreverent and liberally sprinkled with both gags and opinions. Mitchell is irked by Edward the Confessor who was a “jammy sod, who came to England at the same time as Alfred [Ætheling] but slipped back to Normandy and was happily munching camembert by the time Alfred was having his eyes put out”, and by Henry VIII who “lived his life in public, like a cross between Kerry Katona and Vladimir Putin”. He doesn’t buy Henry II asking who would rid him of the “turbulent priest” Thomas Becket and says it was more likely along the lines of: “What sort of a bunch of saps have I surrounded myself with that they let me get treated like shit by this fucking oik?” In relaying tales of familial hatred, infidelity, torture, murder and spectacular incompetence, Mitchell keeps the tone jolly though his knowledge is inarguable.
• Unruly is available via Penguin Audio, 11hr 39min.
Further listening
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Thurston Moore, Faber, 19hr 8min
The Sonic Youth frontman reads his autobiography chronicling his early life in Florida and five decades at the vanguard of alternative rock.
Bournville
Jonathan Coe, Penguin Audio, 12hr 29min
The Middle England author’s poignant portrait of a Birmingham family via landmark events including Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation and the 1966 World Cup. Peter Caulfield and Cara Horgan narrate.
