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A Million Years in a Day

A Curious History of Everyday Life

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A Million Years in a Day

By: Greg Jenner
Narrated by: Greg Jenner
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About this listen

'A wonderful idea, gloriously put into practice. Greg Jenner as is witty as he is knowledgeable.' (Tom Holland)

'Delightful, surprising and hilarious, this is a fascinating history of the everyday objects and inventions we take for granted.' (Lauren Laverne)

Every day, from the moment our alarm clock wakes us in the morning until our head hits our pillow at night, we all take part in rituals that are millennia old. In this gloriously entertaining romp through human history, Greg Jenner explores the hidden stories behind these daily routines.

This is not a story of politics, wars or great events, instead Greg Jenner has scoured Roman rubbish bins, Egyptian tombs and Victorian sewers to bring us the most intriguing, surprising and sometimes downright silly nuggets from our past.

Written and narrated in a chatty style by Greg Jenner, Historical Consultant to CBBC's multi-award-winning Horrible Histories, it is an entertaining history of all those things you always wondered - and many you have never considered. It is the story of our lives, one million years in the making.

©2015 Greg Jenner (P)2015 Orion Publishing Group Civilization World Funny Witty War
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Most relevant
Thanks to QI and Horrible Histories my interest in history has been rekindled.
Greg being a historical consultant for Horrible Histories this was the perfect opportunity for me to download, listen and consume history in a funny and accessible way.
Greg takes us on a tour of how in one day of our lives, different societies have contributed to how modern life has been shaped.
Congratulations to Greg who makes this an enjoyable experience.
It was all fascinating, funny and sometimes bizarre.

Humour and history, what's not to like?

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I love this book, Greg's style is brilliant. Could listen over and over again, who knew history could be so funny.

A real gem

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I read this when it came out and loved it. Listening to Greg Jenner read it might be, in some ways, even better.
It's a History of the World using the 24 hours of a Saturday as a springboard to investigate how our ancestors tackled the problems we face and shows how little has fundamentally changed over the centuries.
Greg Jenner is the History Nerd ( his words) to the BBC series Horrible Histories, still one of the funniest shows on TV and he shows he's no slouch when it comes to performing himself. Friendly, engaging with a great sense of timing: this is the sort of History Lecture you wished you'd had.
5 star production in every way.

If you love Horrible Histories.....

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Informative without being 'stuffy'. Moves at a tremendous pace. Well researched . I thought it s would be a difficult read. It most definitely isn't

Genius piece of work

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I'd read (listened to) some of Greg's other books and was looking forward to this one. The format is unique but doesn't always make sense, and sadly a lot of the humour just came across as really cheesy or cringe.

Interesting but sometimes cringe

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