In this episode of The Summer History Reading Book Club, Charlie Higson is talking to Tom Phillips, author of a series of very funny books known as the ‘Brief History’ series.

These books include Humans - A Brief History of How We Fucked It All Up which was published in 2018. He followed this up with Truth - A Brief History of Total Bullshit, in 2019 – and then Conspiracy - A History of Bullshit Theories and How Not To Fall For Them, published in 2022 and as his most recent book is A Brief History of the End Of The Fucking World published this year, it's pretty clear what the main topic is in each book!

Tom is a journalist with a passion and dedication for fact-checking, which makes these books even more interesting as they separate fact from fiction.

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Yes, Summer is here and for many, that means a break and the chance to dig into a good book.

In this special set of episodes, to run through July and August, Charlie Higson delves headfirst into some of the current crop of history books and invites the authors onto the podcast.

In 1603 England was on the edge of crisis. Queen Elizabeth I had died, bringing the Tudor line to an end.

Enter King James, who reached London after an unprecedented procession from Scotland. James established a new dynasty on the English throne and the first 'united' kingdom of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales was born. The Stuarts had arrived.

But first, this new 'Great Britain' had to play catch up. England was behind, but James's global ambitions began to shift the tide. Ships departed London for America, Russia, Persia, India and Japan, and as the fledgling East India Company became ever closer to the crown, the seeds of the future British Empire were sown.

Professor Anna Whitelock's new book The Sun Rising: James I and the Dawn of a Global Britain tells this fascinating story and is the subject of this episode of Willy Willy Harry Stee.

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In this episode, Charlie Higson digs into the dark world of a man sometimes called the first serial killer.

Gilles de Rais was accused of, and eventually confessed to some awful, depraved crimes, and this was a man who was a companion in arms of Joan of Arc!

At his trial, he was hanged for the murder of 140 children, both young men and women, killed for sexual pleasure and to help him in satanic rituals.

So did he do it? There were confessions, many of which you can read even today, full of disturbing detail, but nevertheless, from nearly 600 years ago, still there for us to try and decipher.

A far easier route however is to press 'play' on this podcast as Charlie and Matthew Lewis try and separate fact from hearsay.

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