The English Year, by Steve Roud (Penguin, £9.99)

11:33am Saturday 29th March 2008

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THIS book gives us an opportunity to go back to our roots on a voyage of discovery around some of the more obscure aspects of English culture.

Fascinating details are revealed in this guide to our often bizarre heritage with sports such as hurling, stool ball and bottle kicking given space alongside activities such as well dressing and badger baiting.

You could find yourself shocked by the horrific game of sparrow mumbling, which involves biting off the feathers of the live bird, intrigued by the practice of wife auctioning and thoroughly educated on just why the English are such a strange breed.