I did find this book entertaining and informative. But I had two main problems with it. Firstly, I think the author is just a little too open in using the book to display his political opinions. Would I be saying this if I didn’t agree with all of them? Well, that is a speculative question. But I would say that I was more annoyed with it interrupting the flow of historical discussion. The reason the Norwegians were (and still are) so good at polar travel is because it's where they live, they do it all the time, they learn to ski before they can walk. Nansen is a towering figure in Norway, and rightfully so (just don't Google his nudes). Amundsen will always be a polar hero, but he is not so highly regarded due to falling in with the likes of Mussolini and his big interest in The Fash during his later years. Coco Chanel grew up mostly in an orphanage run by nuns. Her flair for fashion was real, and she was industrious, but as she became hugely successful, a pretty dark side to her personality emerged. She was a Nazi collaborator who treated her staff with contempt, was unethical in her business dealings, and had a string of affairs with fellow fascist sympathizers.

To be frank, I like the accessible language the author used to write the book. There is no pretension in how he makes his arguments, which I can appreciate. We are told that Kathleen Scott and Nansen were lovers, and that their affair was consumated in a Berlin hotel, there is absolutely no reliable evidence for this whatsoever, and it appears to have been invented by Huntford. They may have been friends, and Nansen may have had a crush on her, but hey, Kathleen was a vivacious and sociable lady, she had a lot of pals, it doesn't mean she was banging all of them, GOSH! Also I think this may have been one of the things Huntford had to pay the Scott family damages over, because it's not truuuueeeee 🤠 The grandly described Prologue is funny, albeit unintentionally. Its like a cross between Monty Python, and a 14 year old trying to copy Orwell. Although his snobbish contempt for his grandparents would embarrass the adolescent Pip from Great Expectations. Where as Andrew Scot is a full grown man (hes writing this under a fake name by the way. Who knows why? Your guess is as good as mine).English, Otto (2021). Fake History: Ten Great Lies and How They Shaped the World. London. ISBN 978-1-78739-639-5. OCLC 1246540717. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link)

This book dismantles the lazy and pernicious tropes of the past as Otto English sets out to redress the balance and reclaim truth from those who seek to pervert it. I have finished reading “Fake History: Ten Great Lies and How They Shaped the World” by Otto English.

Fake History: Ten Great Lies and How They Shaped the World [9781787396395]". A Great Read . Retrieved 27 December 2021.

In 2023, English published a follow-up book, Fake Heroes, in which he profiles ten historical figures and analyses myths connected to them. [9] From an audiobook perspective, I didn't find Otto English's narration particularly engaging. And, as a bilingual German speaker I found his butchering of German pronunciation particularly hard to stomach. Hearing him struggle to pronounce German, French, Nahuatl, and other languages was hard on the ears and I do wish a bit more time and effort had been put into learning the correct pronunciations out of respect to the cultural heritages that those languages represent. There is absolutely no reliable evidence that Scott's wife Kathleen had an affair with Nansen, I wasn't sure why this was included at all.

English, Otto (5 June 2021). "History's biggest lies - from Hitler's art career to royal family being German". Daily Mirror . Retrieved 27 December 2021. Whether it's virtuous leaders in just wars, martyrs sacrificing all for a cause, or innovators changing the world for the better, down the centuries supposedly great men and women have risen to become household names, saints and heroes. But just how deserving are they of their reputations? I liked some of the chapters. The Churchill chapter and the Britain in WW2 chapter were interesting and made me think. Identity, Empire and the Culture War Byline Times explores the weaponisation of Britain’s past as a key tool in a dark project of division and distraction