52 Times Britain was a Bellend: The History You Didn’t Get Taught At School
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-10-04 07:51:21
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：James Felton
- ISBN：0751582891
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
BE THE FIRST TO GET JAMES FELTON'S NEW BOOK "SUNBURN" BY PRE-ORDERING NOW
'Scurrilous， scandalous and frequently disgusting。 I absolutely loved it' James O'Brien
Twitter hero James Felton brings you the painfully funny history of Britain you were never taught at school， fully illustrated and chronicling 52 of the most ludicrous， weird and downright 'baddie' things we Brits* have done to the world since time immemorial - before conveniently forgetting all about them， of course。 Including:
- Starting wars with China when they didn't buy enough of our class A drugs
- Inventing a law so we didn't have to return objects we'd blatantly stolen from other countries
- Casually creating muzzles for women
- And almost going to war over a crime committed by a pig
52 TIMES BRITAIN WAS A BELLEND will complete your knowledge of this sceptred isle in ways you never expected。 So if you've ever wondered how we put the 'Great' in 'Great Britain'， wonder no more 。 。 。
*And when we say British， for the most part we unfortunately just mean the English。
'Scurrilous， scandalous and frequently disgusting。 I absolutely loved it' James O'Brien
Twitter hero James Felton brings you the painfully funny history of Britain you were never taught at school， fully illustrated and chronicling 52 of the most ludicrous， weird and downright 'baddie' things we Brits* have done to the world since time immemorial - before conveniently forgetting all about them， of course。 Including:
- Starting wars with China when they didn't buy enough of our class A drugs
- Inventing a law so we didn't have to return objects we'd blatantly stolen from other countries
- Casually creating muzzles for women
- And almost going to war over a crime committed by a pig
52 TIMES BRITAIN WAS A BELLEND will complete your knowledge of this sceptred isle in ways you never expected。 So if you've ever wondered how we put the 'Great' in 'Great Britain'， wonder no more 。 。 。
*And when we say British， for the most part we unfortunately just mean the English。
Reviews
Rose Hathaway
，
Good， but felt like lots of these weren't all that serious （like the pet stuff）， which should've been more included in something like Horrible Histories。Felt the humour was also a bit。。。 too much？ That being said， I think there were also great examples that weren't trivial -- like the stuff on colonialism。 I was mostly interested in those， and came into the book expecting more of this kinda stuff， so maybe the reason why I didn't rate it 4-5 stars was because the book isn't perfect for me， not t Good， but felt like lots of these weren't all that serious （like the pet stuff）， which should've been more included in something like Horrible Histories。Felt the humour was also a bit。。。 too much？ That being said， I think there were also great examples that weren't trivial -- like the stuff on colonialism。 I was mostly interested in those， and came into the book expecting more of this kinda stuff， so maybe the reason why I didn't rate it 4-5 stars was because the book isn't perfect for me， not that it's actually a mediocre book。I didn't hate this， I liked it， but just had higher hopes 。。。more
Phoebe Diana
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I'm not really big on history books but I can't lie the title and the penis on the cover definitely caught my attention。 James Felton made learning about shitty things we did as a country interesting and spoke about most of it in a sarcastic tone （like a true Brit）。 Will definitely give his other books a go :） I'm not really big on history books but I can't lie the title and the penis on the cover definitely caught my attention。 James Felton made learning about shitty things we did as a country interesting and spoke about most of it in a sarcastic tone （like a true Brit）。 Will definitely give his other books a go :） 。。。more
Colleen
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I'd like to think if I wrote a book about history， it'd be like this。 I'd like to think if I wrote a book about history， it'd be like this。 。。。more
Lucy
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The best history book I have ever read。 This was truly laugh out loud funny from the first page to the last。 It pulled no punches on the truth and I LOVE how blunt it was about， let’s be honest， how much of a proper bellend Britain has been through the ages。 This was a 100% 5* book throughout， cannot recommend enough。
Sheena Wellington
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Yep， that's the way it wasI came home from school one day and told my dad how shocked I was at Surajah Dowlah and the Black Hole of Calcutta 。 "Quite right，" he said，" me we're you equally shocked at the Amritsar Massacre？" That was when any lingering rosie view of empire died。 This book is the spoonfull of sugar making the medicine go down in an eye-opening way！ Yep， that's the way it wasI came home from school one day and told my dad how shocked I was at Surajah Dowlah and the Black Hole of Calcutta 。 "Quite right，" he said，" me we're you equally shocked at the Amritsar Massacre？" That was when any lingering rosie view of empire died。 This book is the spoonfull of sugar making the medicine go down in an eye-opening way！ 。。。more
Charm at Raptureinbooks
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Very funny and informative
Veeral
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I knew about almost all the things mentioned here。 But it would serve as a good starter for those who think that British Colonialism was a good thing。 To me， those people are no different than Neo-Nazis。
Jacob Stelling
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A very amusing - at times laugh out loud funny - account of the ‘history we’re not taught at school’。 As the title suggests， the author takes us through a list of the bad things we’ve done throughout history - including the often insane reasons we use to justify them。 On the whole， an enjoyable read which did also highlight our enormous failings as a nation throughout history。
Muhammed
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Really enjoyed reading this。 Best enjoyed reading a chapter a day instead of straight through。
Devann
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Really enjoyed this one。 Funny and informative although it's definitely a very bare-bones version of events。 As an American I wasn't familiar with a lot of the things talked about here so that was fine for me but if you're British it might not necessarily be new information。 Would definitely recommend listening to the audiobook， the narrator does a great job。 Really enjoyed this one。 Funny and informative although it's definitely a very bare-bones version of events。 As an American I wasn't familiar with a lot of the things talked about here so that was fine for me but if you're British it might not necessarily be new information。 Would definitely recommend listening to the audiobook， the narrator does a great job。 。。。more
T。O。 Munro
，
A great combination of lively writing and painfully accurate history easily digested in an evening。 All those flag shaggers pontificating about sovereignty and how they personally liberated Western Europe at the end of the second world war need to read this， particularly around Britain's role in drug wars， concentration camps， and recompensing slave owners rather than slaves at the end of slavery。Jingoistic notions of British exceptionalism and misguided notions of a benign British Empire have b A great combination of lively writing and painfully accurate history easily digested in an evening。 All those flag shaggers pontificating about sovereignty and how they personally liberated Western Europe at the end of the second world war need to read this， particularly around Britain's role in drug wars， concentration camps， and recompensing slave owners rather than slaves at the end of slavery。Jingoistic notions of British exceptionalism and misguided notions of a benign British Empire have been fostered by populist demagogues like Johnson。Britain may have done some good things， but we also did some bad things - in the case of the Indian famine even while we were doing good thigs （helping to defeat Hitler） we were doing bad things （letting millions die）。 If we cannot critically examine our own pasts as nations and as people， then we deny ourselves the scope for growth and instead fall into the hubris of unthinking pride。Brexit is daily proof of the peril of thinking it is enough just to "be British" and the rest of the world will do as we desire。 。。。more
Molly K
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a great， educational read whittled in with comedy because Brits will refuse to admit their faults， let alone read a book about them， unless there’s a catchy title and a cartoon drawing of a dick on the front
Natalie Lomako
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Thoroughly enjoying this - ‘52 Times Britain Was a Bellend’ by @jamesmichaelfelton - a lovely short book reminding us about the dark side of UK’s history。Each chapter is presented in a short succinct way， very ‘Horrible Histories’ style， except this one is definitely not for young children。 I can easily see most of the 52 Times of the title as a short comedy sketch， told with deep sarcasm - at times comedy gets so dark， it becomes almost ‘Death of Stalin’ kind of deal。Dark comedy definitely a fa Thoroughly enjoying this - ‘52 Times Britain Was a Bellend’ by @jamesmichaelfelton - a lovely short book reminding us about the dark side of UK’s history。Each chapter is presented in a short succinct way， very ‘Horrible Histories’ style， except this one is definitely not for young children。 I can easily see most of the 52 Times of the title as a short comedy sketch， told with deep sarcasm - at times comedy gets so dark， it becomes almost ‘Death of Stalin’ kind of deal。Dark comedy definitely a favourable approach to presenting the dark history of our （not-so-Great-after-all） island。🇬🇧N。B。 One of my favourite bits was one about the first use of an umbrella in Britain。☔️ 。。。more
Hamid
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A bit bare-bones funny。 Kind of like a Horrible Histories book for early teens。
Jessica
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Very wittily written and somehow light hearted while also reminding us of all the the atrocities committed in British history。The sort of book you'd love to give to that racist neighbour who bangs on about the 'good old days' or who questions why half the world hates us because we are such a 'great' nation。 Very wittily written and somehow light hearted while also reminding us of all the the atrocities committed in British history。The sort of book you'd love to give to that racist neighbour who bangs on about the 'good old days' or who questions why half the world hates us because we are such a 'great' nation。 。。。more
Daniel Taylor
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A whistle stop tour of Britain’s horrifying moments。 Very readable but it’s sometimes a bit uncomfortable to marry the humour with such atrocities。 A good read for anyone who suspects the Empire wasn’t all it was cracked up to be…
Charlotte Dewey
，
It’s all in the title
Chartokai
，
Not so much addressing the balance of mindless "Britain can do no harm" patriotism as much as being just as bad in the other direction。The shear waves of petty points overshadow the real harms in need of criticism。 Few people have sleepless nights over some king not knowing how to look after a gift bear （a then exotic animal to the British）， Darwin eating some rare animals and the government suggesting to temporarily relocate pets or put them down if that's too expensive in order to avoid them b Not so much addressing the balance of mindless "Britain can do no harm" patriotism as much as being just as bad in the other direction。The shear waves of petty points overshadow the real harms in need of criticism。 Few people have sleepless nights over some king not knowing how to look after a gift bear （a then exotic animal to the British）， Darwin eating some rare animals and the government suggesting to temporarily relocate pets or put them down if that's too expensive in order to avoid them being in a war zone （which with hindsight was an overreaction）。 Imagine sandwiching such a class of criticisms around the war crimes of other nations。 E。g。 The Nazis were so vain Hugo Boss designed their outfits， something about genocide， but more importantly look at the silly moustache！A few points go in the opposite direction。 For example， 'the great skink' was downplayed。 Politicians originally wanted to move out of the freshly built parliament to avoid doing anything to help。 To be clear， I absolutely didn't expect a comprehensive and intellectual history， but I wouldn't put any more trust in the author's account than the average member of the public skimming Wikipedia。As an aside: I didn't find the swearing excessive， but having the audiobook version did highlight his almost childish feeling of power at using the big boy words。 I don't dock any points/respect for his nervous sounding narration; I know the feeling， and there was improvement throughout the book。 。。。more
Stuart Robinson
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It's more like a 3。5 stars。 Hilarious， crude， distilled look at the shit the Brits （but mainly the English） perpetrated。 It's more like a 3。5 stars。 Hilarious， crude， distilled look at the shit the Brits （but mainly the English） perpetrated。 。。。more
Tara
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History isn't， and shouldn't be， just limited to the happy and comfortable bits。 History isn't， and shouldn't be， just limited to the happy and comfortable bits。 。。。more
Hayley Dunning
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'Fun' introduction to truly horrible history。 'Fun' introduction to truly horrible history。 。。。more
Simon Burdus
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A book which will make you laugh as well as provoke genuine feelings of shame。 It really isn’t surprising the UK doesn’t get any points in Eurovision！
Douglas Stevens
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Exactly what it says on the tin。The history nobody wants to remember。 The times when we were stupid， nasty， or both。 Entertaining， worth the price， and history at it most fun。
Molly
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This was similar to my previously reviewed Atlas of Extinct Countries， but better。 This author did not try quite as hard to be topical and funny and the information presented was comparatively more in-depth。 This is still not a particularly dense history of Britain's faults， but it is a fun and light-hearted take on a not-so-fun （but oh-so-interesting） history。 This was similar to my previously reviewed Atlas of Extinct Countries， but better。 This author did not try quite as hard to be topical and funny and the information presented was comparatively more in-depth。 This is still not a particularly dense history of Britain's faults， but it is a fun and light-hearted take on a not-so-fun （but oh-so-interesting） history。 。。。more
Lizzie Riley
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Very funny， bit of an eye opener！ Kind of book you can easily pick up and put down。 Highly recommend
James R。
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A light-hearted look at the horrors of Britain's Empire。 A good antidote to some of the mindless patriotism you often corm across these days。 It's fine to be proud to be British but its important to know the nasty stuff we did as well as the good things。 A light-hearted look at the horrors of Britain's Empire。 A good antidote to some of the mindless patriotism you often corm across these days。 It's fine to be proud to be British but its important to know the nasty stuff we did as well as the good things。 。。。more
John F Taylor
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The truth about some of British history。
Jason McCracken
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Very brief tales with a shitload of nasty sarcasm smeared on top。 Just my cup of tea。
Lowri
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This is entertaining and horrifying in equal amounts， a sort of adult version of horrible histories - seems like they are aware of this since the audiobook was （brilliantly） narrated by Mathew Baynton！ I’m also glad the welsh not made it on this list！ （Sometimes it’s times England was a bellend。）
Tony
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