Gimson’s Kings and Queens

<b>Andrew Gimson</b> is the author of <i>Boris: The Rise of Boris Johnson</i> published by Simon & Schuster in 2006 and described as ‘brilliant’ ‘scintillating’ and ‘an effervescent delight’. He writes for a wide range of newspapers and magazines and is a contributing editor to ConservativeHome.com. He lives in London. This is the stuff of history lessons long ago and long forgotten by most of us. Essentially <i>Horrible Histories</i> for grown-ups splendidly enhanced by Martin Rowson’s typically scabrous portraits What is most valuable is the way this turns out to be the neatest and most revealing way to tell the story of this country. The chapter on Henry VIII for example is a masterpiece of vivid narrative which somehow manages to dramatise in ten pages so many factors about why we are who we are <i>Gimson's Kings and Queens</i> is unfailingly entertaining and frequently moving. In addition the monarchs are wonderfully caricatured in all their sneers and jowls by political cartoonist Martin Rowson The most entertaining and instructive book on the English monarchy you will ever read [An] entertaining romp through England’s monarchs… an amusing quirky reminder of what older generations were taught at school. <i>Gimson's Kings and Queens</i> is the natural successor to Sellar and Yeatman's 1930 classic 1<i>066 and All That</i> <p><b>A book for all lovers of history: the experienced and the novice the serious and the silly.</b><br><br><i>Gimson's Kings and Queens</i> whirls us through the lives of our monarchs - from 1066 and William the Conqueror right up to Queen Elizabeth II and the present-day - to tell a tale of bastardy courage conquest brutality vanity vulgarity corruption anarchy absenteeism piety nobility divorce execution civil war madness magnificence profligacy frugality philately abdication dutifulness family breakdown and family recovery.<br><br>Written in Andrew Gimson's inimitable style and illustrated by Martin Rowson this is both a primer and a refresher for anyone who can't quite remember which were the good and bad Edwards or Henrys or why so-and-so succeeded to the throne rather than his second cousin.<br><br><b>'The most entertaining and instructive book on the English monarchy you will ever read' <i>Daily Telegraph</i></b></p>