1000 Years of Annoying the French

Product Information

However, I liked how the book was split into sections and the actual information was very readable as well. O, delikatnie rzecz ujmując, skomplikowanych stosunkach pomiędzy dwoma wielkimi narodami, z humorem (często wyjątkowo czarnym! French and British history overlaps so much during the last thousand years, it’s impossible to separate one from the other. Ze French, our natural enemy on the battlefield for hundreds of years, they then become an ally and still manage to have a go and complain about us. This millennial look at the history of Britain and France is told with wry, sometimes childishly irritating, and rarely laugh-inducing humour.

Sometimes they’re right – we have done some nasty things to the French in the past – but often they’re hilariously wrong, and I have tried to set the record straight. Clarke has also written non-fiction, including 1000 Years of Annoying the French, a bestselling look at the history between Great Britain and France, and Paris Revealed, a book detailing the hidden secrets of Paris that Clarke has learned from ten-plus years living there. Luckily I have a French Canadian husband so he can do my speaking for me as I tend to freeze up when spoken to in French.Although, this is not a complete recount of the events and more so, a quick and light skim over the history. A laugh out loud hilarious and perceptive look at the history of England and France and their relationship for the past one thousand years. Stephen Clarke takes a penetrating look into those murky depths, guiding us through all the times when Britain and France have been at war - or at least glowering at each other. With such an amazing portrayal of French hypocrisy and silliness I think “1,000 Years” would fit nicely on the book shelves of Francophobes. A whole country being invaded by their ‘archenemy’ or a few islands that were given up with some shoulder shrugging, well sentiment could be a bit different, don’t you think?

Beginning with William the Conqueror (not French) and ending with Nicolas Sarkozy (French), Clarke covers a fair bit of ground including food, battles, trade, battles, Canada, battles, wine, battles, Voltaire, battles, the French Revolution and battles. The French, in the person of Guillotine, did invent the guillotine, because it was his prototype that was used during and after the French Revolution.

But in fact, William the Conqueror was an avowed enemy of France and regularly attacked the French King. Many things traditionally thought of as French, such as the guillotine, champagne and William of Normandy, were not French. On hindsight, this is a really good book to get yourself familiar with the history of these two countries, even if you're not from either of them. From William the Conqueror right up to almost the modern day, history appears to be littered with things that the French blame us for when they actually had themselves to blame or, there's been a twisting of the truth. I take exception more to their politics and the massive tonne of French fries that they seemingly carry about their shoulders should anyone even suggest that another country has it better than they do - be more like the Germans, the Italians or the Spanish or dare I say it, like us - after all, there's a big proportion of les Anglais that probably originate from France anyway.

I like France for a lot of things - Johnny Hallyday, Charles Trenet, the Little Sparrow, they've made some fabulous films over the years, tasty food, beautiful countryside and some tasty alcohol - I'm more of a beer person but they're better than us at making wine by a long shot. A bonus is that the humor is on point most of the times which by itself this saves the book in many cases. During World War II, the British hated their French allies almost as much as they hated their Soviet allies.It documents the often fractious history between France and England, throwing up a lot of information about the ripple effect this relationship has had on world events. This book, as its name suggests, is a take on the history between England and France for the last ten centuries or so. Bardzo zabawna i pouczająca książka, która pozwoli Wam zrozumieć skomplikowane relacje polityczne i kulturowe pomiędzy dwoma państwami, jak również - przez pryzmat omówionego tu "tysiąclecia" - pomoże zyskać lepszy ogląd na najświeższe wydarzenia zachodzące w Wielkiej Brytanii i na kontynencie. The book covers the disputes and arguments between les Anglais and the French, from William the Conqueror to present day.