But anyone who’s well-acquainted with this field will tell you that nothing could be further from the truth. Some are far superior to others in terms of the scope and accuracy of the information they present, as well as in writing style. Some are written for scholars or a more intellectual audience, while some are written for a more general audience and are written in a more entertaining and accessible way. The people who lived in Britain during the Iron Age weren’t called ‘Celts’ until the 1700s. The name is used to describe all the different tribes that lived in Britain then.

Across Europe, the Celts have been credited with many artistic innovations, including intricate stone carving and fine metalworking. This is an interesting and well written introduction to the Celts. Thought the author puts forward some of her own ideas this is not original research and more about pulling together all the current thinking and archaeological discoveries connected with the Celts. In my ignorance I had thought the Celts were confined to Britain but as I soon realised from reading this book they actually came from Europe and possibly from Portugal and Spain originally. This book was written to accompany a BBC series that I haven’t seen, but that doesn’t seem to detract from it any. I seem to be seeing a lot of people lately considering the issues of Celtic identity: how do we pin it down? Is it based on language, material culture, genetics? Is it really a thing? I’ve been to the temporary Celtic exhibit in the British Museum, as well as read this and — for contrast — Graham Robb’s The Ancient Paths, which views Celtic identity as very contiguous across Europe. (It is reassuring that most of the facts here chimed with Robb’s claims, if you’d like to believe in his theories!)

Perfect for a trivia night or a long trip, #TrainTeasers will both test your knowledge of this country`s rail system and enlighten you on the most colourful aspects of its long history. Meet trunk murderers, trainspotters, haters of railways, railway writers, Ministers for Transport good and bad, railway cats, dogs and a railway penguin. This is NOT a book for number-crunching nerds. Many of the answers are guessable by the intelligent reader. It is a quiz, yes, but also a cavalcade of historical incident and colour relating to a system that was the making of modern Britain. Men and women in Celtic times usually wore long tunics with different accessories, such as coats, capes or belts. Boudicca is one of the few we can be sure about. Her name meant ‘victory’, a fairly common name, and she’s very well attested. But it looks as if legend and history did merge in her biography. So even if she existed, we can’t be absolutely sure how much of what’s written about her is true.

Celtic religion was closely associated with the natural world, and they worshipped their gods in special places such as lakes, rivers, hills and woods.

I wonder if you could tell me a bit about Iona? Why would Columba have chosen to set up a great abbey in the middle of the ocean? That’s right. We have various interesting war leaders – Boudicca in Britain for example, just after the Roman conquest – and some of the figures I dredge up in the early part of my book are these Celtic tribal leaders from beyond the Alps that came crashing down to the Mediterranean in the early centuries BC. While Sjoestedt does retell a few of the most important tales of Celtic mythology, those stories are embedded within conceptual discussions of Celtic mythology and religion. The point is not the stories themselves, but rather what the stories show us about how the Celts experienced the world and its divine inhabitants. Accordingly, Sjoestedt groups her material according to some of the major themes in Celtic religion so that those themes can be explored in depth.