Bizarre England: Discover the Country's Secrets and Surprises

by David Long

An alternative journey around England, visiting the sights that are definitely not on the average tourist trail. In this charming book, David Long introduces the reader to some of the oddest and most interesting sights in England, such Devon's Gnome Reserve, Britain's smallest pub, a church for dragon slayers, a subterranean ballroom, the Phone Box Museum, and much more. From weird buildings to eccentric museums and from mystical superstitions to remnants of magical rites, this is a guide to England like no other.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, History, British Literature, Historical

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2015

About the author

Winner of the Blue Peter Book of the Year 2017, writer and journalist David Long has regularly appeared in The Times and the London Evening Standard, as well as on television and radio. He has written more than 30 books for children and adults and lives in Suffolk.

Reviews

[Lisa - *OwlBeSatReading*]

I wouldn’t say this book was particularly bizarre, secretive or surprising, as the title suggests, but it was an enjoyable collection of random facts, mostly historical, about England and its shenanigans over the years. It kept me entertained from start to finish. My favourite chapters were towards the end of the book and made me up my rating from a two star, it was okay, to a three star, it was good, I enjoyed it read.

Eccentric England, Criminal England and Gruesome England were the most interesting and perhaps some of the content of these were bordering on the bizarre side I suppose.

Overall, David Long did a good job of putting this together in an easy to read, cohesive way but it needed a more thorough proof read as it was littered with errors, mainly missing words and one or two title mistakes, which was a shame.

This is the last book for my ‘book-bingo’ that I’m participating in at my local library, (‘read a historical book’) so I can now hand in my completed card and hope I get picked out of the hat to win £100 quids worth of book vouchers! 🤞🏻😏🤞🏻

[Margaret]

Interesting book looking at the weird and wonderful things in England.

Gained 5 stars due to supplying me with something else to do the next time I'm in London: The London Loo Tour.

Lovely, oddball travel book.

Highly recommended.

[Diana]

Review to Come

[Christeen]

Good quick guide to some interesting events and places. Prompted me to add a few to my list of places to visit.

[Genetic Cuckoo]

A fascinating book looking at the curious and weird side of the UK. This is an interesting book to dip in and out of rather than read in one session. I found the middle section week and found myself skim reading this section, as I'm not as interested in anecdotes about sports or the war. I did enjoy the ending section on strange festivals and celebrations. I would probably only recommend this book for interested foreigners rather than natives, as many of the details are common knowledge.

[HattieB]

A fun read. Each chapter topic could be an entire book on their own.

[Birte]

I took my time reading this book because there is sooo much data and information in there! Very interesting though. Also sometimes funny :)

[Zarina]

This is a cute little tome jam-packed with fun facts about England, the interesting tidbits are categorised by subjects such as royalty, transportation, islands and eccentricity, making it easier to find back an interesting fact you want to reread. While I enjoyed flicking through this and it was a relatively quick read I would say that perhaps it was almost too stuffed with fact after fact and little elaboration on each one, so it was impossible to actually take them all in and store them for future trivia quiz usage. Perhaps this one would be better suited to dip in and out of rather than read front to back like I did.

[the.unconventional.reader]

Per i curiosi e gli appassionati del Regno Unito questa è un' affascinante raccolta di aneddoti e storie peculiari di questo paese. Il libro é organizzato per sezioni tematiche che rende facile anche la consultazione casuale. Ci sono tantissime informazioni interessanti e anche insolite che renderanno la lettura piacevole. Peccato che non ci siano foto che avrebbero reso la lettura ancora più immersiva. Unica pecca é che lo stile non è quello narrativo come di un racconto quanto piuttosto nozionistico e le storie sono riportate come punti di un lista in modo sintetico. Resta comunque un libro originale e un regalo insolito. Consigliato!

[Aimée]

Ich habe David Longs "Reiseführer" vor ein paar Jahren entdeckt, der für Schottland war äußerst unterhaltsam und hat uns ein paar Abstecher zu absonderlichen Sehenswürdigkeiten beschert, der für England ist eher ein Unnützes-Wissen-Kompendium - wobei ich die Teile über Sport und Krieg nur quergelesen habe. Dennoch fand ich hier die Listen zu Heckenlabyrinthen, unanständigen Ortsnamen, seltsamsten Pubs und royalen Eigenheiten ähnlich amüsant. Falls ihr also tiefer in das verquere Gehirn der Insulaner einsteigen wolltet, ist das der richtige Autor für euch.

[Darryl Bortolot]

Not quite what I expected when I picked it up. It turned out to be a collection of factoids about unusual or quirky facts. Now, I like stuff like that, but had been looking forward to something more meaty.

[Emily]

Interesting tidbits

This little book is full of interesting little facts and bits of information about things in England. From crime & punishment to sports and pubs. It's a nice little read to find out more about our great little England.

[Peter Moran]

Full of fun facts and knowledge.

I enjoyed this while I was on holiday and if you like quiz shows and interesting challenges this is for you.
It was very funny in places but not every chapter will appeal to everyone and I’m glad I finished it.
A great read.

[Andrew Mckay]

A perfectly fine collection of English miscellany split into categories. Easy to pick up and read for a few minutes here and there. I didn’t know most of the stories so I definitely picked up some interesting facts, though whether I’ll remember any remains to be seen!

[Anna]

Easy read reference book, with a variety of fun and interesting facts. Definitely one I will dip back in and out of to remind myself of information in it.

[Ann Baxter]

Some fascinating stories

[Ryan Gillam]

It's just a collection of Wikipedia facts. Some of which are incorrect. Nothing but kindle unlimited spam.

[Ian]

Not bad full of tit bits of info about strange events, people, places, food etc of the UK although I wouldn’t regard as so bizarre !!

[p cox]

Lovely surprise.

Didnt know what to expect & got on A unli.ited. Could not put down once started. Will get all the others David Long has written.

[Stephen]

Ok, but nothing too surprising. Easy read.

[Emma Dargue]

This was a quick, bite size informative book. Highlighting the eccentric and sometimes unusual aspects of life in England

[Don]

A city as old and big as London surely would have plenty of tales that are strangely bizarre.

Interesting to a certain degree, but lacks maps to the various locations mentioned.

[Jenny]

Paused

[Melinda Griffith]

This included lots of quirky facts(?) about England and got a humorous reaction from the uniformed officer who let us off the ship in London.

[Amanda Witt]

A great overview of the best and worst, shortest and longest things regarding foods, drinks, personal records and other facts.

[Alexis]

Raccolta bizzarra di bizzari luoghi inglesi: alcuni mi interessavano più di altri, ma è una buona raccolta. Abbastanza accurata ma nello stesso breve per non tediare troppo il lettore.

[Jilly]

This is a book of bizarre things you didn't know about England. It is an easy read and does have some interesting bits and pieces. Possibly more suited to teenagers.

[John Naylor]

A book of some of the curiosities, traditions and people that have inhabited the country called England.

It does debunk a few myths and also corrects some common misattributions about traditional English stereotypes that didn't actually originate here. I did note at least one error as to something that is claimed to still be operational but was destroyed in the 1990s.

It is an easy read and one that could be read in small doses. Most people will learn something from it but further research would be recommended before taking any of the facts at face value.

[Angela Reeves]

interesting

[Carlo]

very enjoyable, didn't want it to end! interesting trivia facts about a range of topics to do with England.