In these ways, the history of Ireland for many decades after independence was in some ways an unhappy one.

Twitter hero James Felton brings you the painfully funny history of Britain you were never taught at school, 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. Of the 52 subject matters, I would suggest a reasonably well educated Brit will know about 45 of them. This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. James Felton tries to inject some humour along the way, but it still makes grim reading, and there were a few incidences where I was genuinely horrified.

Not only this, it’s an informative read, truly shocking me about our nations history and opening my eyes to the racist, homophobic and sexist nation that we are- which is saying something given our current society. As we studied only one short module on the Agrarian and Industrial Revolution and the Peninsular Wars, even Wilberforce was relegated to a single sentence, shared with Shaftesbury and child labour reforms.

It shouldn't really be the case - how poorly we British treated our own, our colonial subjects, our neighbours and rivals shouldn't feel lessened by repetition or by a humorous/satirical treatment. It's more a grab bag of things to trot out to sound superior whilst engaging in pointless internet argument than a cogent warning of the evils of empire.It's clear that every country prefers to dwell on only the good things in its history, but it is fair to say that the particular English nationalism that is presently in control of the UK state, is truly exceptional in its desire to ignore so much of reality.

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.

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. that being said, it’s a good jumping off point to do your own googling, and is a really accessible way of bringing light to serious issues which are rarely spoken about in britain and would probably recommend for that alone!