Many Britons like to think they have a basic understanding of Britain’s amazing history. The Roman invasion, Alfred and the Danes, 1066, Magna Carta, Bannockburn, Agincourt, the Wars of the Roses, Henry VIII and his wives, the Reformation, etc., etc.

The trouble is that concentrating on just a few over-familiar landmarks like these can give a distorted picture of the land we live in. What would our history look like if, instead of looking at all the bits everybody knows, we started telling it through some of the bits everybody doesn’t knows? We set off to find out.

The result is Unexpected Britain, tracing the story of Britain from a time before Rome to a time within the lives of people still living, but going beyond the well known to explore a world of different angles and fascinating, little-known facts that bring fresh life to the story of what Britain has been and what Britain is.