A charming, lively and often amusing tour of the forgotten episodes and overlooked people and places of English history.



Richard Tames, the well-known popularizer of English history, offers an entertaining exploration of the bits of English history that have been sidelined, lost or somehow overlooked. Written in an engaging, easy-to-read and often humorous style, Tames brings to life the various colourful characters, famous in their day, who have now sunk into obscurity, from St Cuthbert and Nicholas Breakspear (the only English pope) to Octavia Hill and the Marquis of Granby. Tames also covers such diverse areas as sports, lost villages, forgotten war heroes and inventors. Did you know, for example, that Barking was once home to the largest fishing fleet in the world? Or that coffee houses were once known as ‘penny universities’? Peppered with quotes and anecdotes, and arranged into concise sections, this book is ideal for dipping into or reading from cover to cover.