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Unruly: The Number One Bestseller ‘Horrible Histories for grownups’ The Times Kindle Edition
THE NO. 1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER
A funny book about a serious subject, Unruly is for anyone who has ever wondered how we got here - and who is to blame.
'Clever, amusing, gloriously bizarre and razor sharp. Mitchell – a funny man and skilled historian – tells stories that are interesting and fun. Here is Horrible Histories for grownups’ GERARD DEGROOT, THE TIMES
'Just fantastic. Delightfully contrary and hilariously cantankerous. Very, very funny’ JESSE ARMSTRONG, CREATOR OF SUCCESSION AND PEEP SHOW
'Clever, funny. Makes you think quite differently about history’ DAN SNOW, HISTORIAN AND BROADCASTER
----
Think you know your kings and queens? Think again.
Taking us right back to King Arthur (spoiler: he didn't exist), Unruly tells the founding story of post-Roman England up to the reign of Elizabeth I (spoiler: she dies). It's a tale of narcissists, inadequate self-control, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and at least one total Cnut.
How this happened, who it happened to and why it matters in modern Britain are all questions David Mitchell answers with brilliance, wit and the full erudition of a man who once studied history – and won't let it off the hook for the mess it's made.
*The Times Number One Bestseller October 2023*
----
‘An enjoyable, rollicking read, definitely not a conventional history book’ THE TIMES
‘Chatty, irreverent and liberally sprinkled with gags and opinions. Horrible Histories with added swearing’ GUARDIAN
'Mitchell clearly knows his history, with a book that owes as much to Monty Python as it does to Simon Schama' ANDREW MARR, BROADCASTER
'Who knew a history of England's rulers could be this hilarious?' i
'I can’t recommend this book enough. Very funny and interesting, it is above all a proper work of history' CHARLIE HIGSON
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin
- Publication date28 Sept. 2023
- File size25.8 MB
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From the Publisher



Product description
Review
I don’t think anyone other than David Mitchell could have written this book. It’s clever, funny and makes you think quite differently about history we thought we knew ― DAN SNOW, HISTORIAN AND BROADCASTER
A Peep Show history of England ― Sunday Times
An enjoyable, rollicking read, definitely not a conventional history book ― Sunday Times
Unruly is part Horrible Histories part jolly romp guided by Alan Bennett. Perhaps this is how history should be done: not by patient scholars, but by free-swearing actor-comedians cramming more ideas and jokes into their pages than many professionals have committed to print in their careers. ― Guardian
By turns fascinating and funny - there is a jewel of an insight or a refreshing blast of clarifying wit on every page. David brings a delightfully contrary and hilariously cantankerous eye to the history of the English Monarchy. Informative, illuminating and very very funny ― JESSE ARMSTRONG, CREATOR OF SUCCESSION AND PEEP SHOW
Mitchell clearly knows his history, with a book that owes as much to Monty Python as it does to Simon Schama ― Andrew Marr
Chatty, irreverent and liberally sprinkled with gags and opinions. Horrible Histories with added swearing. ― Guardian
Full of jokes and canny insights, 100 per cent sparkier and more revernt than your school textbooks ― I
I can’t recommend this book enough. Very funny and interesting, it is above all a proper work of history ― Charlie Higson
From the Back Cover
A funny book about a serious subject, Unruly is for anyone who has ever wondered how we got here - and who is to blame.
'Clever, amusing, gloriously bizarre and razor sharp. Mitchell – a funny man and skilled historian – tells stories that are interesting and fun. Here is Horrible Histories for grownups’ GERARD DEGROOT, THE TIMES
'Just fantastic. Delightfully contrary and hilariously cantankerous. Very, very funny’ JESSE ARMSTRONG, CREATOR OF SUCCESSION AND PEEP SHOW
'Clever, funny. Makes you think quite differently about history’ DAN SNOW, HISTORIAN AND BROADCASTER
----
Think you know your kings and queens? Think again.
Taking us right back to King Arthur (spoiler: he didn't exist), Unruly tells the founding story of post-Roman England up to the reign of Elizabeth I (spoiler: she dies). It's a tale of narcissists, inadequate self-control, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and at least one total Cnut.
How this happened, who it happened to and why it matters in modern Britain are all questions David Mitchell answers with brilliance, wit and the full erudition of a man who once studied history – and won't let it off the hook for the mess it's made.
*The Times Number One Bestseller October 2023*
----
‘An enjoyable, rollicking read, definitely not a conventional history book’ THE TIMES
‘Chatty, irreverent and liberally sprinkled with gags and opinions. Horrible Histories with added swearing’ GUARDIAN
'Mitchell clearly knows his history, with a book that owes as much to Monty Python as it does to Simon Schama' ANDREW MARR, BROADCASTER
'Who knew a history of England's rulers could be this hilarious?' i
'I can’t recommend this book enough. Very funny and interesting, it is above all a proper work of history' CHARLIE HIGSON
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
He didn’t exist. That’s the headline. It’s a disappointing start, I know, but it’s an early sign of how tricky history can be. England’s (though more usually Britain’s, but often Wales’s and Cornwall’s, sometimes Brittany’s) most famous king turns out to be fictional. That’s putting it politely. Gandalf is fictional. King Arthur is a lie.
Some people will still say he might have existed, but the sort of person they say he might have been is so far removed from King Arthur in any of the forms we understand him that it feels like they’re just saying he didn’t exist in a different way. It’s like they’re saying, ‘Oh yeah, there was a real Superman except he didn’t have any actual superpowers and he dressed as a bat.’
For the avoidance of doubt, and of a catastrophic collapse in readers’ confidence in the first chapter, let me make clear that I realize Batman also did not exist.
Who do people say ‘the real’ King Arthur might have been? Perhaps a Roman officer who served in Britain, or a Romano-British chieftain, or a Welsh king—some senior figure who lived at any point from the third to the sixth century (the 200s to the 500s). Someone like that, the idea goes, might have been the bit of real grit in the imagination oyster that turned into the Arthurian pearl.
Personally, I don’t think imagination oysters need real grit any more than metaphorical bonnets need real bees. What caused the Arthur pearl was the persistent longing of humans, of almost all eras and cultures, to hark back to something better. It’s a far more enduring psychological habit than a belief in progress. People found it much easier to believe in a rose-tinted view of the past than a utopian future. They still do: hence ‘Take Back Control’ and ‘Make America Great Again’.
For most of the period covered by this book, any claims or attempts by leaders to change or improve things are most persuasively labelled, to the people of the time, as restorations of some kind. Saying that something was totally new often played badly. The ultimate, most glorious restoration would be to the golden age of King Arthur.
We get most of our sense of King Arthur from Geoffrey of Monmouth, who completed his Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain) in 1138, and from Sir Thomas Malory, whose fifteenth-century Le Morte d’Arthur (The Death of Arthur??) was, in 1485, one of the first books to be printed in England. That gave the Arthur myth wider circulation. There’s now been so much talk about King Arthur over the centuries that many people feel, like they do with ghosts, that ‘there must be something in it’. There is: it just happens to be deep-seated psychological need rather than historical reality.
The story of Arthur reflects our longing, as a species, for the ancient, concealed and magical. Towards the end of Le Morte d’Arthur, Malory suggests the title is not the spoiler it seems: ‘Yet some men say in many parts of England that King Arthur is not dead, but had gone by the will of our Lord Jesu into another place; and . . . many men say that there is written upon his tomb this verse: Hic jacet Arthurus, Rex quondam, Rexque futurus??’ (Here lies Arthur, the once and future king).
This is great stuff and poses a haunting and exciting question: will King Arthur return? It’s clever because, as well as being haunting and exciting, it’s a leading question, of the ‘When did you start taking cocaine?’ kind. Whether you answer yes or no, you’ve accidentally accepted the premise that Arthur existed.
The dates of those two books explain why Arthur, supposedly a fifth- or sixth-century ruler, looks like a medieval king in most of the surviving imagery. To us, King Arthur is an olde-worlde figure—to the people of the middle ages he was in modern dress. They imagined him like a contemporary king but less shit – a paragon of justice, might and legitimacy.
He could be whomever and whatever they needed. What he was king of, in the most real sense, is Albion. And what is Albion? Its poetic and ancient connotations go beyond merely being the old name for Britain. It’s pretty much whatever you want it to be: an English Britain, a Welsh Britain, a Scottish Britain, a Celtic Britain, an ancient British Britain—a nice version of here.
So, while King Arthur didn’t exist, the idea of him is lurking, guiltily or inspiringly, in the minds of many of the rulers who did.
2. King King
Another thing that didn’t exist in the sixth century was England. No one called it that for hundreds of years. It’s impossible to know exactly how many years, though, as there was no official rebranding moment. It wasn’t like when Royal Mail became Consignia, or Andersen Consulting became Accenture, or Consignia became Royal Mail. There wasn’t a day when all the signs saying ‘Britannia’ got taken down. There was no signage. Hardly anyone could read. Those last two sentences can be applied to most of human history, so I hope you’re not expecting this book to be about anything nice.
England was a word that gradually gained currency, like mansplain or staycation, and it was fully in use by the time William the Conqueror was king of it. I expect you’ve heard of him. Most people know that, in 1066, William the Conqueror (not at that point so named) won the Battle of Hastings and became king of England. When it comes to the likely readership of this book, that ‘most’ must rise to ‘all’. If there is anyone reading this book who didn’t already know that, I would love to hear from you because you are genuinely reading in a genre that was previously of no interest. You, if you exist, and I bet you don’t, are an absolute confounder of the algorithms. It would be like someone reading a biography of Elvis Presley who did not already know that he was a singer. What you are doing is probably more statistically remarkable than what William the Conqueror did.
Perhaps that’s where we should start: the Norman Conquest, the beginning of proper English history. You know, the normal sort, with the current monarch numbering. If Prince William becomes king, and takes the name that people actually call him by as his regnal name (which they don’t always, confusingly—cf. Edward ‘David’ VIII and George ‘Albert’ VI), he’ll be William V and that’s a fifth where the Conqueror is first. It’s almost official that English history starts then.
A few months before that first William’s arrival on these shores, King Edward the Confessor died. His posthumous career was more glittering than his living one because he became a saint. Trumps king, doesn’t it? To be honest, I slightly disapprove of kings being made saints. It’s like CEOs getting knighthoods, standing alongside all those dedicated charity volunteers who raised millions for incubators but only get MBEs. Still, there it is. Edward the Confessor makes saint, even though he was never burned to death or nailed to anything—and a saint in honour of whom a later King Edward was named. But that later one is still King Edward the first. Even the revered Confessor, as with all English kings before William of Normandy, literally doesn’t count.
The only trouble with calling William the Conqueror the first king of England is that it’s not what he called himself. It’s not what he chose to identify as, you might say if you happen to be living in the early twenty-first century. William would have said he was the rightful successor to the Confessor, and not because he was the sort of idiot who assumed things were more true if they rhymed. I reckon that kind of thing makes an ass out of you and me.
Edward the Confessor would have said he was the rightful ruler from the royal House of Cerdic, which had consolidated its hold over what was beginning to be referred to as ‘Engla londe’ after expelling the Vikings a few times. Before that it had ruled the kingdom of Wessex since its establishment by Cerdic himself (he was supposedly a person) in 519, soon after the arrival in Britain of ‘the Anglo-Saxons’, an umbrella term for various tribes from what is now north Germany and Denmark who started turning up once the Roman Empire withdrew its legions around 410, leaving lots of vulnerable Romano-British dignitaries wondering who was going to service the central heating in their villas—plus a few not particularly tough local warlords none of whom, as discussed, was in any meaningful way King Arthur, and all of whom had lived rather comfortably being looked after by the Roman Empire since it had taken the place over in the year 43.
Shit, this history’s going backwards! Although, if you think about it, that’s the logical direction to go in. It’s how archaeology works. You can’t start with stone age axes and work your way up through Roman pots to clay pipes and finally ration cards and an old Nokia. The starting point for our enquiries into the past is the present. Historical narratives proceeding chronologically are a bit like sets of directions that start with where you’re going and then work their way back to where you are.
Product details
- ASIN : B0C4GM5KSX
- Publisher : Penguin
- Accessibility : Learn more
- Publication date : 28 Sept. 2023
- Language : English
- File size : 25.8 MB
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 430 pages
- ISBN-13 : 978-1405953207
- Page Flip : Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank: 166 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- Customer reviews:
About the author

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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book well-researched and informative, with a marvelous sense of humor that makes it a laugh-out-loud read. The historical content receives mixed reactions - while some appreciate the brilliant run through the stories, others find it confusing to follow. Customers describe the book as enlightening and interesting, though some find it boring at times.
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Customers find the book interesting and well worth reading, with one customer noting its well-researched content.
"Great book and very funny, but also erudite and informative. Not sure it has to be so rude, but still well written." Read more
"...Book speeds up towards the close and becomes sketchy, but overall a good read. Can’t believe he didn’t know Sorrento had an old harbour!" Read more
"...Thanks David, a great read" Read more
"...The prose does not flow. Crude language is used throughout in an unfunny and unnecessary way. I’m not sure I learnt many facts I didn’t already know...." Read more
Customers enjoy the book's humor, describing it as a laugh-out-loud read with a marvellous sense of humor.
"This has been passed round everyone in the family. Well written and funny, David Mitchell is really witty...." Read more
"...Funny!" Read more
"Great book and very funny, but also erudite and informative. Not sure it has to be so rude, but still well written." Read more
"...That was well thought through, original informative and entertaining. Do that and you’ll save yourself many hours of indifference." Read more
Customers find the book enlightening, describing it as interesting and revealing, with one customer noting how it brought historical figures to life in a wonderful way.
"...The book was informative and interesting and now and again bordered on being serious...." Read more
"Interesting and funny. If you like history you’ll enjoy this book. David Mitchell at his irreverent best. A great Christmas gift!" Read more
"...I loved the list of monarchs and the maps at the start, always useful for context. Particularly interesting though were the family trees...." Read more
"...a don’t-take-history-too-seriously attitude, that is extremely refreshing. This is David Mitchell as we know him! Wonderful stuff!" Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the historical content of the book, with some praising its brilliant run through royal stories while others note that the narrative gets murky and confused.
"...The problem is that the jokes are too long winded and get in the way of the narrative...." Read more
"...I got annoyed by the jokes and confused trying to follow the history. Feels a lot like this is a money grab type of book...." Read more
"...I loved the list of monarchs and the maps at the start, always useful for context. Particularly interesting though were the family trees...." Read more
"...The book was informative and interesting and now and again bordered on being serious...." Read more
Customers find the book's content rambling and boring at times, with one customer noting it contains too many profanities.
"...just going through every king and queen, but it feels like it gets boring pretty quick...." Read more
"...It just comes across as a bit childish, amateur, he can't really be bothered to make the effort...." Read more
"This would have been an impossibly dull read without David Mitchell’s brilliantly humorous and entertaining slant...." Read more
"...unmercyfully rips apart some of our most woeful monarchs with humerous criticism and fruity language which causes much hilarity...." Read more
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Top reviews from United Kingdom
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- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 15 June 2025A complex history analysed and simplified with superb wit and insight. David Mitchell describes the futility and ridiculous nature of Kingship with his usual sharp and pedantic insights. I hear his voice as I read, and can feel his frustrations and joy unpicking all the crazy exploits.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 September 2024I'd been recommended this book and, as I enjoy the humour of the author, was looking forward to reading it.
The idea of the book is to look at the English Kings (and occasional Queen) starting as far back as possible and ending with Elizabeth I.
The introduction is interesting (always a good start) as David Mitchell introduces the idea of how the English people view the monarchy. I noted this had been written recently as there are references to King Charles III.
This book was first published in 2023. There are 403 pages, if you include a "Bookend" chapter at the end - the chapter cover 39 monarchs with the first few chapters grouping a few together.
You can definitely hear the voice of the author coming through in the writing. It's familiar and conversational in a style more commonly used in an autobiography - I thought this made the book very easy to read.
I loved the list of monarchs and the maps at the start, always useful for context. Particularly interesting though were the family trees. We are always taught about 1066 onwards but rarely look at the periods before that so it's great to see the names and their connections.
The book starts after the Romans and the narrative gets murky/confused for the first couple of chapters. To be fair to the author he is working through a period of history that is also very murky. He makes good efforts to pull together some basic facts in a comedic way then moves on.
Once the Viking invade then the history becomes more familiar to both author and reader which makes everything more comfortable. Jokes generally need to be about something recognisable to make them funny and the narrative gets funnier as we progress through the book.
The style of the book is very much like a Bill Bryson book - lots of research and lots of facts, all presented in an accessible way with plenty of humour.
When we get to the Plantagenets the story gets muddled again and I suspect David Mitchell didn't enjoy this section. Henry Tudor eventually takes over and we are all then back on familiar ground again (bring on the jokes!).
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 June 2025Irreverent and light hearted, the history of British monarchies made easy-to-understand whilst being comical although always accurate and well researched!
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 May 2025I'm tempted to try to offer a review well above my station here! One of parallel humour and with a relaxed new republicans sentiment. Thanks Mr M for an easy to read well balanced but light touch of British historical reference. I enjoyed its content and its not too deep storyline. It is said that all men are equal. As long as we just say that we believe it then it will never be the case. As you say statistically speaking we must all have at least a touch of royal blood! Can we choose the source? Ironically most I think would choose either Henry V111 or either of our two great Elizabeths! 😊 Thanks David.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 January 2024Well I’ve finished it eventually by resorting to listening to DM reading his book. It’s not an easy read. The prose does not flow. Crude language is used throughout in an unfunny and unnecessary way. I’m not sure I learnt many facts I didn’t already know. It skates over many events and I’m not sure what he thought the purpose of the book was for. The White Ship by Charles Spencer is a much more informative read. If you want one chapter to read that is enlightening then read the last chapter Bookend about the importance of Shakespeare and the relative unimportance of monarchs. That was well thought through, original informative and entertaining. Do that and you’ll save yourself many hours of indifference.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 April 2025Well written if you laugh at his humour you’ll enjoy it. If you don’t it will be more of a trial. Certainly a different take upon those who have become the Kings and Queens along with a not quite orthodox view of where their authority both moral and legal derives from.
The only downsides is there is a lot to get in so not all is as in depth as you would want.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 July 2025Makes those boring lists of dates and names interesting and amusing. I was a bit sceptical about his humour in the past (appearances on "Would I Lie to You?" excepted) but now have to rate myself a fan.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 21 July 2025Never thought I would find History interesting, but this book does the job and some.
I have found an author to subscribe to.
How refreshing in this digital age.
Top reviews from other countries
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JamesReviewed in Spain on 18 October 2023
4.0 out of 5 stars El titulo es apropriado.
El libro contiene muchos comentarios divertidos sobre los personajes y sigo leyéndolo gustosamente.
Sin embargo, la copia que yo he recibido, tiene una lista de 56 ilustraciones que figura en las paginas 408 al 410, donde están ordenadas en secuencia y por numeros, pero las ilustraciones están en tres lugares distintas y no están en secuencia. totalmente desordenadas e.j. el 1y el 2 están seguidas por el 19 al 24 y la pagina siguiente tiene el 6 al 9, seguido poe el 29 al 32 y la próxima pagina muestran el 14 al 15.
Todos en color y de alta calidad.
Algo estraño. Tal vez otra broma del autor ;)
James
- EwanReviewed in Canada on 27 June 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Witty and enjoyable read
So funny. I can almost hear him reading it in my head. But you have to be a Brit or have knowledge of British culture/politics to understand some of the humour. But I’d recommend it to anyone who is curious about ‘English’ kings and wants a laugh.
- Suprio ghoshReviewed in India on 23 May 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun read
A wonderful take on British history. Full of humor. Like, Aethelwold could be the name of an artisanal cheese! .A great way to get introduced to the history of the country
- De PauwReviewed in Belgium on 27 May 2025
4.0 out of 5 stars History in a funny way
Great reading
-
MargaReviewed in Germany on 26 June 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars Typisch Mitchel
Man hoert ihm reden beim lesen. Interresant und lustig