• Stick a Flag in It

  • 1,000 Years of Bizarre History from Britain and Beyond
  • By: Arran Lomas
  • Narrated by: Arran Lomas
  • Length: 13 hrs and 39 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (619 ratings)

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Stick a Flag in It  By  cover art

Stick a Flag in It

By: Arran Lomas
Narrated by: Arran Lomas
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Publisher's summary

From the Norman Invasion in 1066 to the eve of the First World War, Stick a Flag in It is a thousand-year jocular journey through the history of Britain and its global empire.

The British people have always been eccentric, occasionally ingenious and, sure, sometimes unhinged - from mad monarchs to mass-murdering lepers. Here, Arran Lomas shows us how they harnessed those traits to forge the British nation, and indeed the world, we know today. Follow history’s greatest adventurers from the swashbuckling waters of the Caribbean to the vast white wasteland of the Antarctic wilderness, like the British spy who infiltrated a top-secret Indian brothel and the priest who hid inside a wall but forgot to bring a packed lunch. At the very least you’ll discover Henry VIII’s favorite a*se-wipe, whether the flying alchemist ever made it from Scotland to France, and the connection between Victorian coffee houses and dildos.

Forget what you were taught in school - this is history like you’ve never heard it before, full of captivating historical quirks that will make you laugh out loud and scratch your head in disbelief.

©2020 Arran Lomas (P)2020 Arran Lomas
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

What listeners say about Stick a Flag in It

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Interesting history, hilariously recounted

This is a great look back at interesting characters and events in British history. The author's dry wit makes this particularly entertaining. It's very much in the vein of his youtube channel, Thoughty2 (which I also highly recommend).

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16 people found this helpful

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remarkably entertaining and true

Arran lomas, stick a flag in it is one of the best historical books I have had the opportunity to listen to. as an amateur historian myself his dry wit and humor and his ability to tell a story I find remarkable. I only wish I had a high school teacher with his enthusiasm and humor when it came to history. Arran lomas AKA
Thoughty2 on YouTube.
you really must check him out on YouTube, where he continues his dry wit of amazing stories and truths..

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9 people found this helpful

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I don't usually leave a review...

...But I had to make an exception with this one. Best thing I've listened to all year.

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6 people found this helpful

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Awesome book

This is a very awesome book if you familiar with the author's YouTube series then you'll enjoy this book is well

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Not As Enjoyable As His YouTube Channel

I'm not sure what it was, but while I was highly anticipating this book I can't help but be disappointed. There's just something about the stories that didn't interest me all that much. The performance was good, but I wasn't intrigued. I was also a bit put off by a few references to modern day politics, as well. Sometimes people just want escapism out from the clown world we live in today and it gets a bit annoying and frustrating when it seems to seep into everything.

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Enjoyable for casual history aficionados

Loved it. A great audio book to kick back and relax to or during a walk.

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An excellent lesson in history

Arran does a wonderful job of bringing the long and meandering history of his country together in a wonderfully humorous book. His ability to weave what was boring in school into an enjoyable, humor filled, educating, and well told story is well done. His voice and pace is perfect.

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Arran Lomas is a master storyteller

I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed this book.
It's how we always wanted history classes to be.
Tidbits of information sprinkled with laughter and jokes and tied together with a serious reflection on itself.
Best of all no quiz at the end.

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Thoughty2 proper length monolgue

Finally more than 15 minutes at a time of good humor and interesting facts.

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Great job!

This was so well written and performed! I now have a much greater understanding and appreciation of my ancestors! Great book, will be recommending to my family and friends.

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  • Jamie
  • 10-12-20

Brilliant

Excellent, funny, but full of facts Ice learned, this man should be a history teacher

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  • Rob
  • 01-06-21

Amazing

Highly recommend this book. Is very well written, easy to learn about history. Lots of comedy and easy to listen to. I also recommend you look at Thourghty2 on YouTube.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 12-07-20

a history class of great Britains, without filters

been a longtime fan of Arran's (thoughty2) content. this book is a fun history class with no filters on all the grotesk and stupid things the great brittains have been through. never thought history was this interesting.

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  • Luke Cromey
  • 11-24-20

Incredible

Never, in my short life, have I appreciated the Great British Isle in such a way before. This book is very proudly and respectfully put together and articulated. The final inspiring story even made me proud to be an Irishman, despite the book veering toward British history. Very inclusive, and I've never seen the British in such a way before.

Well done, and thank you.

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  • Angrenades
  • 01-05-21

Thoughty 2 is great

brilliant take on history which makes you want another book to listen to. I wish my history teacher had made their lessons like this, it would have been so much better. will await a second book

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  • Stephanie Gray
  • 12-21-20

Funny and so so interesting!

Absolutely loved it. Loved the voice, loved the jokes and the facts are so fascinating. I've lived in England for so long and never knew half of this stuff (aside from the monarchy--always knew they were dodge af).

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  • Craig S.
  • 11-30-20

Great book

I have got to say the way Arran has wrote and narrated this book is really good
I had to keep coming back to it as soon as I could chapter after chapter with historic events bought to life in a way some writers and narrators fail too do.
A telling of some history in a new way totally bought this to life.
Keep them coming Arran

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  • Justin Rickard
  • 11-27-20

Very funny, unusual and educational

Very funny, unusual and educational . I have learned so much about British history that I otherwise would be unaware of.
Thanks Thoughty2!

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  • Ian
  • 11-23-20

British history with a sense of humour

First of all, Arran's humour is on point. Particularly, the chapter titles were brilliant.

While not a complete history of Britain, the time periods he goes through are interesting, have some fun facts with some jokes and the fact that this is split into two parts was not that bad as both had an equal amount of chapters.

I was not able to get a physical copy of the book so I am glad I have an audiobook adaptation. (I don't know if this is abridged as a result though I enjoyed this anyway so no big deal.)

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  • Anonymous User
  • 11-17-20

Highly informative and entertaining

I have listened to it twice now and will probably listen to it again. A very entertaining way to learn about British history!

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  • Brandon
  • 10-15-20

If only history was taught like this.

The history of England has never been on my list of top 500 things I wanted to learn before I die. It was probably closer to wanting to learn about the history of the lavatory. But I've watched Arron on YouTube for several years now and thought if anyone can make this interesting, he can. I'm now 5hrs in with roughly 8 hrs to go. Every moment of listening to Arron educate me on England's history is informative, interesting, and entertaining. His almost dry British humour has, many times so far, left me literally laughing out loud in my car as I travel between jobs across the NSW countryside of Australia. How I wish my high school history teacher could have expressed themselves in such a way. I surely would not have felt like a potato waiting to take root in the garden of knowledge. I sincerely hope he writes another book some day. But this one may be very hard to top.

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  • Anonymous User
  • 10-20-20

A true journey through time.

It's hard to comprehend the true scope and scale of influence the British Empire has actually had on the world at large even to this day, but this book helps brings all that into focus in such a way that you will be wishing there was more just so your journey through time with Arran was longer.

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  • Michael Danby
  • 09-26-22

loved it!

very entertaining and compelling
being from a convict settlement I loved hearing about how messed up English history is

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  • Robin P Pereira
  • 07-29-22

A great collection of stories!

This was an entertaining and educational listen to historical stories recounted here.

Overall I would recommend it!

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  • John
  • 10-01-21

Excellent

Making history fun. I would recommend this book if you have an interest in English history.

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  • Daniel Marc Scott
  • 07-29-21

Awesome Book

Loved the book mate, lots of history that's never covered in school.

Daniel Scott (photodude1986)

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  • Anonymous User
  • 03-19-21

Brilliant!

I absolutely loved this book, Aaran! You really bring the history alive in your fantastic narration! Please write another book!

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