are faring today and will include recommendations so you can drink your way through the book. Britain’s legacy has been much argued over. The lasting gifts I may have missed the boat here, but interested to know when your book on Kenelm Digby will be out. As I'm living in Thailand at present, book launches are not often on my radar.

My book is about Britain and booze and the first chapter is largely about Sir Kenelm Digby and his roll in the invention of strong glass. It should be out early next year. No boats have been missed! Safehouse – This is your main building/HQ in a neighborhood. A crew member can be assigned as a lieutenant to provide boosts.

Britain, none of our favourite wines would exist. What chauvinistic nonsense, my colleagues said. And then we started naming drinks and trying to find the New Hires —More notoriety means stronger (and more expensive) crew members will be available to recruit. Keats, Prose and Poetry, with Essays bu Charles Lamb, Leigh Hunt, Robert Bridges and Others (The Claredon Series of English Literature Read about how we owe the champagne we drink today to seventeenth-century methods for making sparkling cider; how madeira and India Pale Ale became legendary for their ability to withstand the long, hot journeys to Britain's burgeoning overseas territories; and why whisky became the familiar choice for weary empire builders who longed for home. If you are just starting to learn about wine you need two books: “ The Oxford Companion to Wine” (Jancis Robinson) and “ The World Atlas of Wine” (Jancis Robinson and Hugh Johnson). These two are so good and, between them, so comprehensive in their coverage of just exactly what is what that, unless you need to start pretending to be some sort of authority, they’ll do you forever.

Of course, it didn’t happen. It was always very unlikely to. Most book don’t sell. I also think the timing was bad. When I first started working on Empire of Booze , narrative non-fiction was all the rage. You know the kind of thing, how one man’s quest for cheese conquered a kingdom and changed the world. By the time it came out, such books were dead. Furthemore a book celebrating British exceptionalism in 2016 seemed to really annoy some people. I can’t think why.New Roles —Certain notoriety thresholds mean you can promote members of your gang into roles like Underboss. Charming . . . Never mind books about drink – a book you can drink, now that’s a Christmas gift. Spectator

The British are the most cosmopolitan people in all history. Forget the empire for a moment; that was just part of it. Aside from that, Britons travelled and traded in the world far more widely than they colonised it, unless you want to count travel and trade as forms of “imperialism”, which some do. They also emigrated, sometimes to their colonies, but more often not. This is why their presence and their legacy are still felt, even after all these years of shrinkage as a nation. In Empire of Booze Henry Jeffreys traces their contribution t o the alcoholic drinking habits of the world. His claim is that Britain, rather than, say, France or Germany, “the country with the greatest influence on wine and drink in general”. It’s a bold assertion, but after reading this book one can see what he means. This is a delightful book for anyone interested in history and alcoholic beverages, and how the two intersect.Henry Jeffreys is everything you want a wine writer to be: funny, knowing, unpretentious but also un-blokeish, funny, clever, refreshing, original, funny and inquisitive. And did I say funny? Craig Brown, author and parodist They also started the fashion for corking bottles – before then they had been sealed with paper and wax – facilitated by Britain’s close diplomatic relationship with Portugal, where most cork trees grow. For a festive special, Tom and Dominic are joined by author and alcohol historian Henry Jeffreys to discuss some Christmassy tipples, from sherry to port, champagne to clairet. Plus, a discussion on why certain drinks revealed your political leanings, and how one Shropshire gentleman set his furniture on fire trying to cure his hiccups after one too many bottles of wine...