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Unruly

The Number One Bestseller ‘Horrible Histories for grownups’ The Times

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Unruly

By: David Mitchell
Narrated by: David Mitchell
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THE NO. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Read by David Mitchell.

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

Think you know your kings and queens? Think again.

Taking us right back to King Arthur (spoiler: he didn't exist), Unruly tells the founding story of post-Roman England 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.

How this happened, who it happened to and why it matters in modern Britain are all questions David Mitchell 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.

*The Times Number One Bestseller October 2023*

'Clever, amusing, gloriously bizarre and razor sharp. Mitchell – a funny man and skilled historian – tells stories that are interesting and fun. Here is Horrible Histories for grownups’ GERARD DEGROOT, THE TIMES

‘Chatty, irreverent and liberally sprinkled with gags and opinions. Horrible Histories with added swearing’ GUARDIAN

'Mitchell clearly knows his history, with a book that owes as much to Monty Python as it does to Simon Schama' ANDREW MARR, BROADCASTER

©2023 David Mitchell (P)2023 Penguin Audio

 Europe Great Britain Historical Politics & Activism Royalty England Funny Thought-Provoking Witty Comedy Feel-Good Arthurian Tudor War
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Critic reviews

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.
Full of jokes and canny insights, 100 per cent sparkier and more revernt than your school textbooks
An enjoyable, rollicking read, definitely not a conventional history book
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
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
Mitchell clearly knows his history, with a book that owes as much to Monty Python as it does to Simon Schama
A Peep Show history of England
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
Chatty, irreverent and liberally sprinkled with gags and opinions. Horrible Histories with added swearing.
I can’t recommend this book enough. Very funny and interesting, it is above all a proper work of history
All stars
Most relevant
As long as you know who David Mitchell is and are comfortable with his views on contemporary issues, you are on safe ground. Oh, and you need to be OK with swearing too. It's not every history book that comes with an "explicit lyrics" label or with spoilers about the last James Bond film, but this one does. It also regularly critiques the self-indulgent habit of historians to reframe things with little or no evidence to support them; "maybe Shakespeare didn't write the plays". "maybe Richard III wasn't such a bad king" etc. Meanwhile, he consigns the likes of "killed with a red hot poker to the bum" and "burnt the cakes" to the apocryphal skip. Royal history was a gap in my knowledge that I'd been trying to fill, so I bought this book the second I knew it existed. It did its job admirably. I can't claim to remember everything I've heard, especially not from the 100 Years' War section, but I bet I remember a lot more from this format than I would have done from something less exuberant.

Great

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David Mitchell is a really good historian! I’d always suspected that he was, but this book is full of wise observations on the historical process and on historiography itself. It also made me laugh out loud. There is more good historical sense here than in most academic studies. Learning through laughter. It works. Having Mitchell narrate the book was an added bonus. More of this please DM!

Funny. But with real history!

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Insightful, lighthearted and a thoroughly interesting listen. Helped to fill gaps in my historical knowledge in an entertaining and humorous way.

Fabulous

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You don't need to know who David Mitchell is (however unlikely) or like history, and there's still half a chance you'll enjoy listening to this. I am about halfway through and fully intend to listen to it again, once finished and probably more than once. I'll probably end up buying the Kindle version too. I've told my 80-year-old sister-in-law to listen to it, and my 14-year-old teen. There are some teeny rude bits but nothing the average granny isn't seeing on Ladbible whilst trawling through Facebook every night, and its David Mitchell so it doesn't count.

It's a brilliant book and is narrated entirely wonderfully. David Mitchell's delivery will not make you fall asleep while driving, but you might have to pause him whilst you concentrate on parking. If like me, you drive around the UK, and see castles or brown battlefield signs and think that you should look them up when you get home*, you'll enjoy listening to David chat irreverently about kings, battles and old words that have become new words, and you like me will sigh and think "ahhh, so that's where that came from" and try and remember all the town names that end in burgh or brough and then have to rewind to the start of the chapter again.

*Sorry to say I never look them up. I always forget.




I don't even write reviews

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David Mitchell excellently takes us on a journey through medieval England. Enlightening the 'Dark Ages' his unique dry style offers a unique take on those names often heard, but rarely understood or saterised.

Excellent, Engaging, Entertaining

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