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  • John Murray
  • John Murray

Secret Britain: The Hidden Bits of Our History

Justin Pollard

6 Reviews

Rated 0

United Kingdom, Great Britain, Prose: non-fiction, History, British & Irish history, History: specific events & topics

Justin Pollard unveils Britain's secret history . . . shhh, don't tell anyone.

Some of our most intriguing history is missing. Perhaps there has been a conspiracy, a cover-up? Or maybe some stories have been lost, forgotten or were just too embarrassing to talk about at the time? But now they are back, revealed in all their glory: secret passages, events, societies, loves, identities and even dark secrets of the grave.

After much sleuthing, Justin Pollard takes us into undisclosed historical waters to discover why the city of Burlington isn t on the map; how Agent Pickle saved the lost treasure of Bonnie Prince Charlie; what Sir Thomas Overbury knew in 1613 that got him murdered with a poisoned enema and how Virginia Woolf sweet-talked her way aboard HMS Dreadnought dressed as Abyssinian Prince.

Secret Britain will also reveal the tragic love story behind the Rolls Royce mascot; how agent Garbo managed to get an MBE and an Iron Cross; the sinister properties of the Hand of Glory; the lost smuggling ship Peggy; the Mystery Runner of Nos Galan; the extraordinary history of the Fairy Flag of Dunvegan; London s only Nazi war memorial and the secrets of the WWII Monopoly board.

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Praise for Secret Britain: The Hidden Bits of Our History

  • Amusingly and energetically told...his best. Pollard has the QI knack of knowing what's funny or interesting - Spectator

  • The parts of our past they didn't teach in school - Express

  • 'Ideal for history buffs and fact lovers - Scottish Sunday Post

  • Gems you won't have heard about at school - Daily Mail Scotland

  • I sometimes wish that my school history lessons had given a bit less time to important things such as the repeal of the Corn Laws and a bit more to the sort of by-the-way history told here . . . amusing - Sunday Telegraph

  • An endlessly fascinating book, and dull would he or she be who didn't find it hard to put down, once picked up . . . The really clever part is the tone, which is never facetious, always respectful to the subject matter, even when there is a faintly detectable Jeevesian smile to the prose. It is hard not to say: "Oh, just one more, then." - Guardian

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Justin Pollard

Justin Pollard is a Cambridge University Archaeology graduate, who has television experience that includes Time Team and QI. Justin is the author of Seven Ages of Britain.

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