Simon Schama begins his history of Britain at the miraculously preserved Stone Age cottages of Skara Brae in Orkney and then moves on to the world of Anglo-Saxon England.

1066 is not the best remembered date in British history for nothing. In the space of nine hours whilst the Battle of Hastings raged, everything changed. Anglo-Saxon England became Norman and, for the next 300 years, its fate was decided by dynasties of French rulers