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. When I started reading it I was pleased to find so many historical details in each chapter, many of which I was unfamiliar with. There was some history that I knew but interesting facts were added and history that I was unaware of.

But exactly the same thing can be said about the French and the all English-speakers – no matter what we try to do in the present, the past will always march up and slap us in the face. A grand portrait of the Duke of Wellington, the man who effectively ended the career of France’s greatest general, Napoleon Bonaparte. Edith Piaf and Coco Chanel: both were pro Nazi (to add to the fun, on page 448 the Wehrmacht troops are depicted whistling “Non Rien de Rien”, a song that has only been written in 1960 by Charles Dumont. After working as a journalist for a French press group for ten years, Paris-based Clarke now has a regular spot on French cable TV, poking fun at French culture.

You don’t have to be a Brit or an Anglophile or even a Francophobe to appreciate this book but it helps. A 'deliciously' entertaining read from start to finish - probably the most entertaining history book I've ever read (and I do enjoy a bit of history). I must thank Stephen Clarke for a most insightful history lesson but written in such a way as to be not only very amusing but also very informative.

His non-fiction books include Talk to the Snail , an insider's guide to understanding the French; How the French Won Waterloo (or Think They Did) , an amused look at France's continuing obsession with Napoleon; Dirty Bertie: An English King Made in France , a biography of Edward VII; and 1000 Years of Annoying the French , which was a number one bestseller in Britain.

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. To give the simplest of examples – go into the British Embassy in Paris, and what do you see in the first anteroom you enter? He recounts trips to Crecy and Azincourt (not Agincourt which is hundreds of miles away from the true battle site - with the z) and paints a less than glowing picture of Joan of Arc, religious zealot and manipulative egomaniac. In 2004, he self-published A Year in the Merde, a comic novel skewering contemporary French society.

Of course, there are parts of the book that tackle the issues of our war time differences and how such things are stitched into the fabric of our two nations. This is a great introduction to anybody wanting to understand the peculiar relationship between two countries separated by a 30 mile stretch of water and 1000 years of colourful history. Having said that, Clarke is very blunt in his condemning of certain British atrocities mentioned during his rather thorough journey through Anglo-French history, as well as being quick to point out some specific flaws manifested by the Brits.France also blames the treacherous Anglais for killing Joan of Arc, but she was burnt after being captured by French soldiers and tried as a witch by Parisian monks. I realize that any book that gives a balanced view of history is going to irritate French people a lot.

I could go on stating the other way that the Guernsey resistance did a terrible job on blowing up railways (do they have a railway there? Like what the real Richard the Lionheart and his brother John were like, not just how they are depicted in the countless Robin Hood adaptations. Much of the early stuff I already knew (perils of being a medievalist), but the 17th C chapters and later I found remarkably educational, in part because I realised that I knew a lot of facts from this period but almost none of the whys.

As well as plenty of passage highlighting reasons to love the French, it reminds us of the many things the world has to thank France for. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Ten centuries’ worth of similar French historical “facts” bite the dust – as Stephen Clarke proves, the French didn’t invent the baguette, the croissant or the guillotine, and would have taken the bubbles out of bubbly if the Brits hadn’t created a fashion for fizzy Champagne. This was a humorous and yet seriously edifying romp through Anglo-Gallic relations from the time of the conquest until a few years ago.