An Utterly Impartial History of Britain

This was Grumpy Old Man John O'Farrell's first foray into chronicling the history of these fair isles, and this publication pre-dated his subsequent whirlwind tour of post war Britain An Utterly Exasperated History of Modern Britain. The Utterly Impartial part of the title is of course ironic – O'Farrell hasn't merely regurgitated a sequence of facts like any self-respecting too-busy-boozing-to-study undergraduate; oh no, the reader should be aware they will be subjected to O'Farrell's skewed wit and left-of-centre politics.

This is no hindrance, and to be offended would be like going to a Frankie Boyle gig and moaning about his lack of political correctness. It comes with the territory and is part and parcel of the way O'Farrell delivers his prose. Most of the humour cross-references against modern day cultural artefacts and personalities either in-line with the narrative, or as a side note. This technique has its critics but to me it is instrumental to maintaining the pace and the levity.

The book is not without criticism however. O'Farrell has woven a story predicated on the various wars and battles that have littered both this country, and Europe's, history. By his own admission, this is because the warfare is interesting and has to large extent shaped the landscape we see around us today. But this comes at a cost – diplomacy, evolution through peaceful government and reign, are by and large overlooked in the book because there isn't much story to tell when people aren't killing each other. Robert Walpole, generally considered the country's first Prime Minister (although the role strictly speaking didn't exist at the time), led the country through twenty years of peace and as a consequence his contribution to society is limited to a solitary paragraph.

On the whole though, O'Farrell achieves the correct mix of political satire and razor-sharp wit throughout, and there is a great deal of source material for anyone wishing to gain an appreciation of the history of the country. It can't be considered a definitive guide, but then again, that's not it intention in the first instance.