The Wrong Kind of Snow: How the Weather Made Britain

The British are, as a general rule, obsessed with the weather, an unsurprising fact given the unpredictability of English weather systems and the huge impact they have played on national history. The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 was as much a result of a devastating storm as the strength of British forces, and the steamy summer of 1858 caused the Great Stink of London, resulting in the construction of the city’s sewage system. From the massive floods of 1930 to the Great Freeze of 1963, each of the 365 entries in this intriguing compendium illustrates an important day in the weird and wonderful history of British weather.

Antony Woodward and Rob Penn are journalists and have spent many hours trying to predict the weather, Antony as a pilot and Rob on a bicycle trip around the world.