Product Description

This is the ultimate journey around England. Christopher Winn takes us to each county, to see where history happened, where people and ideas were born, where dreams took flight and where men and women now rest from their labours. To tread in their footsteps, to touch and experience some of what inspired and moved them is to capture some of the flavour of their lives and make their stories alive and real. Crammed with facts and information, I Never Knew That About England celebrates the places and people that make the country unique and includes history, legends, firsts, supremes, unusuals, inventions, birthplaces and gossip. You'll be able to visit the bridge where Pooh and Piglet played Poohsticks and see where Alfred burnt the cakes. In a small village in Bedfordshire you can visit the graveyard where Long John Silver and Wendy rest. These stories will bring any place that you visit to life (keep one copy in the car and one in the house!) and enable you to discover England's rich and surprising history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3662 in Books
• Published on: 2005-04-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Review
"A treasure trove of unknown delights!", Terry Wogan, Terry Wogan ."A marvellously entertaining and instructive read- a compendium of facts and anecdotes that offers an exciting new kind of guide to England.", Simon Jenkins ."I never knew there was so much I never knew!", Gyles Brandreth ."hoards of fascinating facts, tantalising tales and titillating trivia', The Lady .'a beautiful guide to the lore of the villages, towns and cities of England. After reading about each county, I want to pack the car and go there immediately. It's a Christmas pudding of a book, immensely rich and not to be eaten at one sitting', Guy Browning, The Times

Gyles Brandreth
"I never knew there was so much I never knew"

Simon Jenkins
"A marvellously entertaining and instructive read...an exciting new kind of guide to England"

Customer Reviews

Informative - obscure facts about England
What a great read . Loads of interesting,obscure & little known facts about England.
There is a section on each English county & some of the towns & cities therein. The book covers each county's "claims to fame" (many of which were unknown to me - really interesting & enlightening) along with other fascinating historical snippets.
Dip in & out or read straight through, either way it's an entertaining & informative book.
It's the kind of book they must get pub quiz questions from !!
As the previous reviewer points out,a really excellent stocking filler - real value & a true "find" .
Top quality.

This is what makes England so special
I found this book to be a brilliant stocking filler, a really good 'toilet' read. I flicked through it at first, searching for locations from my childhood and teens, such as places I had visited on family holidays, etc. However, after an initial trawl I read it over a period of about 36 hours. There is not a place in England that doesn't have some obscure fact related to it.

A bloody good book, highly recommended.

Very interesting but a bit disappointed at first glance...
Just got this as a Christmas present for someone, and looking through, it makes a very interesting read, with lots of unusual and entertaining nuggets of information and facts. The illustrations are good too.

However I was a bit disappointed to find 3 mistakes in the space of as many pages when I looked at my own local area (Suffolk), which could have been corrected by anyone with Google and an extra 30 seconds to check each one... It was Sir Robert Watson-Watt who was instrumental in the development of RADAR at Bawdsey just before WW2 (not Robin), it's the River Deben (not Debden), and Grimston Hall is in Trimley St Martin (not the adjacent parish of Trimley St Mary). Which just makes me slightly question the veracity of the rest of the book. But it's still a good read, and probably the rest of it's all true!