1000 Years of Annoying the French

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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.

The love is easy to explain – despite what we might say in public, we find each other irresistibly sexy. the French military trained British secret services in how to disable Exocets and 3) they loaned our military several aircraft to learn how to work against them. 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. It's to be hoped he's written a similar book from a French perspective, given that he now lives and works in Paris! While I did know about some periods of the 1000 years it was covering, I wasn't an expert enough to critique the information it provided in the book so I can't comment on the accuracy.The first big laugh I had was when Clarke described William II (informally known as Rufus) of England as "a medieval Paris Hilton" for his indulgences and a love of "make up, dresses and yappy little dogs". 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 across the English Channel. 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.

This is how history should be passed on - the book is full of fascinating historical facts all built round the "special" relationship we have with our neighbours across the channel. The book covers the disputes and arguments between les Anglais and the French, from William the Conqueror to present day.

That’s something that I do feel could have at least been mentioned a bit more clearly, to balance things out, instead of focusing so much on what the French did wrong.

The novel was an instant success and has led to numerous follow-ups, including Dial M for Merde (2008), 1,000 Years of Annoying the French (2010), and Paris Revealed (2011). It's definitely history-light, but Clarke has a nice way with tale-telling and makes the history interesting and accessible. Despite it being a whimsical ride for the most part, it did drag from time to time, and I was glad to get it over with. We laught at (while, in may case, loving beyond most others)their hoity-toity food and wine supping ways; they, in turn, are noted as ridiculing our stodgy, bland, unimaginative menus and beer swillinh culture.But in fact, William the Conqueror was an avowed enemy of France and regularly attacked the French King. During World War II, the British hated their French allies almost as much as they hated their Soviet allies.