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The first thing to say, before any criticisms, is that this is an excellent work: an extremely useful reference, endlessly fascinating, and authoritative-editor Juliet Gardiner is the former editor of History Today magazine, the author of numerous historical books, and editor of the History Today Companion to British History, while the contributors are all leading historians.

Most of the 4,000 entries are thumbnail sketches, twelve to twenty lines giving brief, basic but in most cases sufficient biographical information. In addition there are 135 single-page essays, and a further 50 double-page essays, on some of the more significant figures of the last 2,000 years in Britain. (As these inevitably express opinions and judgements, far more so than the basic factual entries, one might have wished them to be signed.)

The aim of the book, says Gardiner in her Preface, is to be "scholarly, informative and authoritative, but also decisive and provocative, both in the selection and the content of entries." She accepts that "Every reader will find some omissions from their concept of the human landscape of British history. Equally they will come across unexpected entries..." Many of the following comments, then, should be seen in this context, with this reviewer acting as a single representative of "every reader", with personal prejudices apparent; other readers will undoubtedly have a different selection of grouses and gripes as to missing or "shabbily-treated" people.

Although the volume covers 2,000 years very comprehensively, in some cases more attention is paid to contemporary figures than to people of the past; the 16th century equivalents of Peter Mandelson and Geoffrey Howe (both here) are not likely to be found. This leads to some imbalance: Margaret Thatcher gets a double spread, while the historically far more important Eleanor of Aquitaine gets only a single page (though the much less significant Margaret of Anjou, for some reason, is given a double spread).

To put these into context, of the other prime ministers of the last 40 years Harold Wilson and Harold Macmillan both have a double spread, while John Major, James Callaghan and Edward Heath have to make do with one page. Tony Blair, as new boy on the block, is probably fortunate to get a half page (only a few lines more than Ken Livingstone!); but Alec Douglas-Home only gets half of that.

It's clearly difficult to assess the importance of politicians currently in opposition; but could it be significant that Michael Portillo's entry is three lines longer than William Hague's?

Liberal and LibDem leaders Jo Grimond, David Steel, David Owen and Paddy Ashdown are here, but strangely not Charles Kennedy. Poor old Jeremy Thorpe looks pale in comparison with the company on his spread, who include Thorfinn I Skull-Splitter, Thorfinn the Mighty, Thorkell the Tall and Thorstein the Red.

In at least one entry on a contemporary royal figure, Diana, Princess of Wales, the book has been careful to make an attempt at true historical significance. Her half-page entry begins: "It seems unlikely that a future age will be able to grasp either her glamour or her secular canonization at the time of her death, but she will remain a phenomenon which will tell historians much about the age in which she lived." Scrupulously, Prince Charles's entry is exactly the same length. Both entries are critical, but fair. There's also a nice touch of humour: with the birth of Princes William and Harry, Diana "had provided the heir and the spare".

In religion, many archbishops of Canterbury are here, as is, quite rightly, Basil Hume; Methodist founders Charles and John Wesley and George Whitefield have an entry each, as do Salvation Army founders Catherine and William Booth; Helena Blavatsky, founder of the Theosophical Society, has a brief entry, while her successor Annie Besant gets a full page as a "social reformer"; Aleister Crowley is perhaps surprisingly included; but you would look in vain for John Nelson Darby, founder of the Exclusive Brethren, John Thomas, founder of the Christadelphians, Edward Irving, founder of the Catholic Apostolic Church, or George King, founder of the Aetherius Society. A couple of historical oddballs are included. St Malachy of Armagh has an entry, though curiously with no mention of the one thing that keeps him famous today: the papal prophecies (wrongly) ascribed to him. Archbishop Ussher of Armagh is also here, with due mention of his calculation of the moment of Creation as "about 9.00 a.m. on 26 October 4004 BC". (The word "about" is priceless!)

Coverage of the arts is somewhat idiosyncratic. Byron gets a double-page spread, but astonishingly Shakespeare and Dickens have only single page essays; William Blake, Edward Burne-Jones and WB Yeats get half a column; Shelley, Browning, Keats and DH Lawrence even less. World war I poets Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon are here, but not the Liverpool poets Adrian Henri, Roger McGough and Brian Patten-or even the current poet laureate, Andrew Motion.

It's unsurprising that John Lennon and Paul McCartney have entries; slightly more surprising that Mick Jagger does. But many other long-lasting and genuinely significant figures in pop, rock, jazz and folk music are absent. At least they give the folk song collector Cecil Sharp a few lines-though Andrew Lloyd Webber gets five times as many. It's good to see a few modern artists: Bridget Riley and Peter Blake are here, as is Lucian Freud. More controversially, perhaps, Damien Hirst is included, though thankfully not Tracey Emin. (Going back to the Freud family, it seems odd that Anna Freud, Sigmund's psychoanalyst (and psychoanalysed) daughter, is here, while grandson Clement Freud, politician, restaurateur and humorist, isn't.)

Science fiction writers only appear to be included if they also did something else; so Sir Fred Hoyle is here as an astronomer, Aldous Huxley as a writer, HG Wells as a "writer and Fabian socialist", CS Lewis as a theologian, and Doris Lessing and Naomi Mitchison as writers (the latter's SF isn't mentioned); George Orwell's work is rightly seen as social commentary and satire in a full-page essay. Somehow Martin Amis manages to get an entry, while the far more significant writers Brian Aldiss, Michael Moorcock, Christopher Priest and John Wyndham are absent.

There is no explanation of why numerous non-British people are included: Madame Blavatsky (Russian), Jomo Kenyatta (Kenyan), Bronislaw Malinowski (Polish), Karl Popper (Austrian), Polydore Vergil (Italian), Huldrych Zwingli (Swiss), even Pope Paul IV (Neapolitan), amongst others; Karl Marx (German) gets a full page.

A few general problems to finish with. Any reference work has difficulties with classification; this book admits these up front. Most people are listed under their surname, but kings, queens and other royals under their first name; so we get Boleyn, Thomas and Anne Boleyn. There are also problems with Irish surnames beginning O'; people from before 1100 are listed under their first names, and anyone later under their surnames. Cross-references would have helped.

Even more useful would have been thematic lists. There are only two brief lists at the end of the book-Kings and Queens of the English, England & Britain (from 899), but not Scotland, Ireland or Wales; and British Prime Ministers (from 1721)-and they can be found anywhere. But simple lists of the politicians, soldiers, scientists, writers, poets, artists and so on who are included in the book would have made this a far more valuable and useful work for comparative research. As the name in each entry is followed by (usually) a one-word description, it would not have been difficult to do. Similarly, a list of the essays would have been a nice touch. A chronological index would also have been helpful, to enable the reader to discover at a glance who the editor and contributors consider to be the significant figures of, say, the 12th or 17th centuries-sometimes one needs assistance in knowing who to look for. It's this sort of attention to detail which gives real "added value" to any reference book, and which is unfortunately missing here.

But despite these criticisms, Who's Who in British History will be a useful addition to the shelves of anyone with an interest in history.

Allen Stewart

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