The Beastly Battles Of Old EnglandThroughout history the English have been a warlike lot. Often we fight among ourselves there have been a good few civil wars and when we were not slaughtering each other we practiced on our neighbours the Scots the Irish the French . . . When that got too easy we set off around the world to find other people to fight. This was usually done with a hubris that invited some ludicrous pratfall. In THE BEASTLY BATTLES OF OLD ENGLAND Nigel Cawthorne takes

is rich in suspense and brimming with adventure

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After defeat

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a coal miner and passionate believer in workers' rights