Product Description

Fountainhead of democracy, engine of the Industrial Revolution, epicentre of the globe's greatest empire and the first-ditch stand against an expansionist Germany in two world wars: England's history is among the most fascinating and influential the world has ever known. This volume presents that history in unique form: first-hand, through the words of those who saw it and those who made it. All the great events of the last 2,000 years are here: the Norman Conquest, Magna Carta, the Peasants' Revolt, Henry VIII's break with Rome, the Great Fire of London, Nelson at Trafalgar, two world wars. Alongside these are the less obvious happenings which together capture the nation's social history, such as the Black Death of 1349 or life as a chimney sweep in 1817. And of couse there are the things that have shaped the nature of 'Englishness', like theatregoing in Elizabethan London, fox hunting in 1898, Oates's self-sacrifice at the South Pole, the Beatles and the 1966 World Cup. Presented chronologically and a joy to read whether cover-to-cover or dipped into as a treasury of sources, England: The Autobiography offers an intimate, vivid and revealing portrait of England and the English - and the unique place of both in world history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22845 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Saul David
'What does it mean to be English? Lewis-Stempel gives us a clue with this superb collection . . . A triumph'

About the Author
John Lewis-Stempel is the author and editor of numerous books. He lives with his family in Herefordshire where he farms rare-breed cattle. John Lewis-Stempel is a writer and farmer. He lives with his wife and two children in Herefordshire, where the last of England runs into Wales. His many previous books include Fatherhood: An Anthology and D-Day: As They Saw It.

Excerpted from England, the Autobiography: 2,000 Years of English History by Those Who Saw It Happen by John Lewis-Stempel. Copyright © 2006. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The Beatles in performance at the Cavern Club in Liverpool on the 9th November 1961, by Brian Epstein who was a record shop owner in Liverpool and the first manager of the Beatles.

I arrived at the greasy steps leading to the vast cellar and descended gingerly past a surging crowd of beat fans to a desk where a large man sat examining membership cards. He knew my name and he nodded to an opening in the wall which led into the central of the three tunnels which make up the rambling Cavern.
Inside the club it was as black as a deep grave, dank and damp and smelly and I regretted my decision to come. There were some 200 young people there jiving, chatting or eating a ‘Cavern lunch’ – soup, roll, cokes and things. Over all the speakers were loudly-amplified current hit discs, then mainly American, and I remember considering the possibility of some ‘tie’ between NEMS and the Cavern in connection with the Top Twenty.
I started to talk to one of the girls, ‘Hey,’ she hissed. ‘The Beatles’re going on now.’ And there on a platform at the end of the cellar’s middle tunnel stood the four boys. Then I eased myself towards the stage, past rapt young faces and jigging bodies and for the first time I saw the Beatles properly.
They were not very tidy and not very clean. But they were tidier and cleaner than anyone else who performed at that lunchtime session or, for that matter, at most of the sessions I later attended. I had never seen anything like the Beatles on any stage. They smoked as they played and they ate and talked and pretended to hit each other. They turned their backs on the audience and shouted at them and laughed at private jokes.
But they gave a captivating and honest show and they had very considerable magnetism. I loved their ad libs and I was fascinated by this, to me, new music with its pounding bass beat and its vast engulfing sound. There was quite clearly an excitement in the otherwise unpleasing dungeon which was quite removed from any of the formal entertainment provided at places like the Liverpool Empire or the London Palladium, though I learned later that the response to the Beatles was falling off a little in Liverpool – they, like me, were becoming bored because they could see no great progress in their lives.
I hadn’t appreciated it but I was something of a figure in the Liverpool Pop Scene as a Director of NEMS, and I was surprised when after the Beatles had finished, Bob Wooler, the Cavern Disc jockey, who later became a great friend of mine, announced over the loudspeaker that Mr Epstein of NEMS was in the Cavern and would the kids give me a welcome.
This sort of announcement then, as now, embarrassed me and I was a little diffident when I reached the stage to try and talk to the Beatles about ‘My Bonnie’.
George was first to talk to me. A thin pale lad with a lot of hair and a very pleasant smile. He shook hands and said ‘Hello there. What brings Mr Epstein here?’ and I explained that I’d had queries about their German disc.
He called the others over – John, Paul and Peter Best – and said ‘this man would like to hear our disc.’
Paul looked pleased and went into the tiny band-room next to the stage to get it played. I thought it was good, but nothing very special. I stayed in the Cavern and heard the second half of the programme and found myself liking the Beatles more and more. There was some indefinable charm there. They were extremely amusing and in a rough ‘take it or leave it way’ very attractive.
Never in my life had I thought of managing an artiste or representing one, or being in any way involved in behind the scenes presentation, and I will never know what made me say to this eccentric group of boys that I thought a further meeting might be helpful to them and to me.
But something must have sparked between us, because I arranged a meeting at the Whitechapel store at 4.30 p.m. on December 3rd, 1961, ‘just for a chat,’ I explained, without mentioning management because nothing as precise as that had yet formed in my mind.