David Mitchell
Wednesday 11th October 2023
Younger Hall, North Street, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AJ
6.40pm
7.30pm
Unruly: An Evening with David Mitchell
Get ready for one of our standout events of 2023 as we welcome David Mitchell to St Andrews! David will be bringing his trademark wit to Younger Hall this October to tell us, in his incisive way, about the Kings and Queens of England in Unruly.
Think you know the Kings and Queens of England? Think again.
In Unruly, David Mitchell explores how early monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects' destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky sods who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear to us today in their portraits.
Taking us right back to King Arthur (spoiler: he didn't exist), David tells the founding story of post-Roman England right up to the reign of Elizabeth I (spoiler: she dies). It's a tale of narcissists, inadequate self-control, excessive beheadings, middle-management insurrection, uncivil wars, and at least one total Cnut, as the English evolved from having their crops nicked by the thug with the largest armed gang to bowing and paying taxes to a divinely anointed King.
How this happened, who it happened to and why the hell it matters today are all questions David answers with brilliance, wit and the full erudition of a man who once studied history - and is damned if he'll let it off the hook for the mess it's made of everything.