Alison Weir is one of our greatest popular historians

Weir provides immense satisfaction. She writes in a pacy, vivid style, engaging the heart as well as the mind

Weir wears her learning lightly and has a pleasant habit of anticipating all the questions of a curious reader

Taken as a whole, the book amounts to a time capsule of England as it is now; it is, in its quirky offbeat way, a celebration of this country's extra-ordinary capacity to accomodate change while remaining essentially the same.

It is these juxtapositions of the high and the low, the hip and the furiously unfashionable, or, if you like, the sublime and the ridiculous, that make Maconie such an entertaining tour guide.

I love Stuart Maconie - he's one of Briatin's truest and most comforting voices. In High Teas... he explodes the myths and stereotypes of Middle England. My own preconcived notions were banished with this delightful, warm postcard from some of England's most eccentric places.

Puffed up and preposterous, but Piers is the Pepys of the celebrity age.

He is an engaging witness to the events that brought peace to the benighted north - largely because he wants no future role in politics and can afford to be outspoken

All parties should consult Powell’s meticulous account of negotiations that underpinned the peace process