Books like Dirty Bertie by Stephen Clarke

Bill Bryson’s witty farewell tour of England, capturing its idiosyncrasies, landscapes and people, as he prepares to return to the United States after decades of living there.

Bill Bryson retraces a journey across Britain, from Bognor Regis to Cape Wrath, uncovering the country’s quirks, charms and changes with humor and keen observation.

A tense journey of mother and daughter through a desperate search for a cure in southern Spain, unraveling psychological mystery, identity and the edges of hope.

A trio of stories about a janitor who thinks a school janitor is a vampire.

A witty, 19th‑century satire of suburban middle‑class life, chronicled through the diary of Mr. Pooter, an office clerk in an 1880s English suburb.

To coincide with the Channel 4 series to be aired at the end of this year – David Starkey's 'Monarchy' charts the rise of the British monarchy from the War of the Roses, the English Civil War and the Georgians, right up until the present day monarchs of the 20th Century.David Starkey's magisterial new book Monarchy charts the rise of the British crown from the insurgency of the War of the Roses, through the glory and dangers of the Tudors, to the insolvency of the Stuarts and chaos of the English Civil War, the execution of Charles I, the rule of a commoner who was 'king in all but name', the importing of a German dynasty, and the coming-to-terms with modernity under the wise guidance of another German, Victoria's Prince Consort Albert. An epilogue brings to story up to the present and asks questions about the future. The crown of England is the oldest surviving political institution in Europe. And yet, throughout this book Starkey emphasises the Crown's endless capacity to reinvent itself to circumstances and reshape national polity whilst he unmasks the personalities and achievements, the defeats and victories, which lie behind the kings and queens of British history. Each of these monarchs has contributed, in their own way, to the religion, geography, laws, language and government that we currently live with today. In this book,Starkey demonstrates exactly how these states were arrived at, how these monarchs subtly influenced each other, which battles were won and why, whose whim or failure caused religious tradition to wither or flourish, and which monarchs, through their acumen and strength or single minded determination came to enforce the laws of England. With his customary authority and verve, David Starkey reignites these personalities to produce an entertaining and masterful account of these figures whose many victories and failures are the building blocks upon which Britain today is built. Far more than a biography of kings and queens, 'Monarchy' is a radical reappraisal of British nationhood, culture and politics, shown through the most central institution in British life.

This profile of one of the most popular sovereigns of recent British history chronicles his uninspired early life and his development into a competent and principled monarch.

Edward VII, nicknamed Bertie, reigns as King of England for the last decade of his life, ascending to the throne at age 59 after a childhood marked by tension with his parents, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.