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 across the English Channel. Starting with William the Conqueror (who, contrary to what the French might claim, wasn't French at all, and died fighting the Paris-based King of the Franks) and going right up to the horrendous diplomatic gaffes inflicted on recent French presidents, I have sifted through our common history for tellable tales, and kept only the juiciest nuggets. This was a humorous and yet seriously edifying romp through Anglo-Gallic relations from the time of the conquest until a few years ago.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. When I started reading it I was pleased to find so many historical details in each chapter, many of which I was unfamiliar with. However, I liked how the book was split into sections and the actual information was very readable as well. 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.

Though I do appreciate that some mistakes the British made during certain conflicts are at least mentioned throughout the book. One of the most frequent questions I get when doing readings and talks is: why is there such a love-hate relationship between the French and the Brits? The one that thakes you from 94% to 51% of the way through the book in a single forward page turn is impressive.I mean, like half the countries in the world right now have an independence day to celebrate their independence from the British. The list is long because it being tongue in cheek, “1,000 Years” depicts a France that has nothing to be proud of. Who knew that modern champagne was invented in England, that Dom Perignon tried to remove the fizziness from the French stuff because the bottles kept exploding whereas the English went crazy for it and the fizzier the better? The chapters come with delightful sub-headings, such as "In India and Tahiti: France Gets Lost In Paradise: A selection of historical Frenchmen lose India, fail to notice Australia and give sexually transmitted diseases to Pacific islanders" and "How Britain Killed Off the Last French Royals: And the Victorians said, 'It was an accident, honest.

Essentially, a two-century-old defeat is brandished in the face of every French visitor to Britain’s diplomatic headquarters … in France’s own capital city.However this book brought the whole story of the French and English to light in a very entertaining and readable style. The author is British but has lived on both sides of the channel, and he lobs potshots in each direction. 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. As tongue in cheek as the title sounds, this is an informative history book that charts 1000 years of Anglo-French mutual adoration loathing.