Treats for under the tree: Top 10 festive gift ideas that promise to be all THEY want for Christmas Shoppers' secret to Zen: NEOM's bestselling electric diffuser is on sale with 30% off this Cyber Weekend (it fills your home with fragrance for 7 hours) Moment David Tennant's Doctor Who is scolded by transgender character for calling an alien 'him': 'You're assuming 'he' as a pronoun?' Is this the most dangerous reality TV stunt ever? Survivor stars take on underwater challenge having to hold their breath while trapped in a cage The newest in The Shortest History series brings you a fast-paced tour of 2,000 years of English history, tracing its secret north–south divide and entrenched class system

The Shortest History of England isn’t the definitive history of a nation, it doesn’t claim to be and it is not intended to be. Writing the definitive history of a nation is impossible, but for some the closest version we have is the version in which Britain is the World’s Greatest Nation Ever, Woo! and anything straying from that is not only wrong but unpatriotic.

Tom Brady soaks up the sun on a Thanksgiving snorkeling trip with his three kids - and admits life after football at 46 isn't all bad Leonardo DiCaprio, 49, cuts a typically low-key figure as he steps out with glamorous girlfriend Vittoria Ceretti, 25, and her family in London History is always on the move and hard to pin down beyond the basic pegs of dates, names and places. History is about shifting consensuses: the context in which the Colston statue went up in the first place is just as valid as the context in which it came down. Both actions and their motivations are part of a historical narrative and nothing, literally nothing, is being erased.

Eventually, this leads the author to the present day. Post-Brexit, he concludes: ‘The Party of the South realised that it was almost certain to rule England with the UK gone, and mobilised the common people, North and South, with extravagant promises of national liberation.’

Leaving your beauty routine out in the cold? Three beauty experts on the skin, hair and nail tips they're giving their celebrity clients this winter The post-MAFS glow-up! Thomas Kriaras hits the gym and Luke Worley shedstwo stone as Rozz Darlington and Jay Howard undergo break-up makeovers The line taken by Hawes is that England is defined by division. It is a country that has been split along geographical lines since Ancient times. The geography informed the economy- the South was more prosperous due to favourable soils for growing crops. The economy informed the culture- Southerners became the national ‘elite’, and it was those who partook in the culture of the elite that got ahead. After the Norman conquest, that culture was essentially French. The English elite was never English at all, but French. This, Hawes argues, is our ‘national trauma’. Gareth Southgate says 'outstanding and forward-thinking' Terry Venables lived 'life to the full' as Three Lions boss pays tribute to late England manager after his death The Industrial Revolution could have changed everything: for once, geology, principally, King Coal, was on the side of the north. By 1848, its latest cultural-political expression, the Chartist movement, was ready to mount a challenge to the south and (with the delighted support of Karl Marx) even to try setting up an alternative parliament in Manchester, in 1854.

The southern English elite responded with their signature masterstroke: new blood was allowed in on strictly controlled terms through a great new wave of Anglican public schools. Northern thinkers were soon complaining that, as one MP put it in 1897, English manufacturers should “do as the Germans do and bring their sons up to be better manufacturers than themselves, instead of bringing them up to be gentlemen who do nothing but hunt and shoot”. REVEALED: Why Taylor Swift MISSED premiere of Beyonce's concert film... even though Renaissance singer attended HER Eras Tour movie event

In addition, I found the book a much easier read when getting on to those parts of English history I had previous knowledge in, namely the 1500s onwards (I'll admit I haven't the biggest interest in medieval history).