Recommended Novels, Histories, Poetry, and Films to enhance your tour. Few countries have been influence more by their literature.

We have some time to prepare before this trip, so we suggest spending time with books and movies that will make this trip even more enjoyable.  Right now we're revisiting some of our favorite movies and TV shows.

Fiction covering the long span of history:

• Idylls of a King by Lord Tennyson
• or Morte d'Arthur by Malory (difficult)
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain (Also a fun 1949 film starring Bing Crosby.)
• Hamlet, MacBeth, Othello, Richard II, Henry V,  Romeo and Juliet and other plays by William Shakespeare
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
• Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy​​  
• Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Gramme
• Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
• A Man for All Seasons (by Robert Bolt about Thomas More)
• The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
• The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur C. Doyle (Sherlock Holmes) 
• Agatha Christie’s 10 Little Indians
• 1984 by George Orwell

Histories

• History of the English Speaking People by Winston Churchill
• The Last Lion by William Manchester (at least V-1)

Poetry – A Sampler

• Ode on Intimations of Immortality by William Wordsworth
• Sonnet 116 by Shakespeare
• Meditation 17 by John Donne (No man is an island)

Films and Television
History and War

• Camelot – musical
• Oliver – musical
• My Fair Lady – musical
• Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves
• Braveheart
• Rob Roy
• Zulu
• Operation Mincemeat

History

• A Man for All Seasons
• How Green was my Valley
• Young Winston

Romance and Culture

• Notting Hill
• The Man Who Invented Christmas
• Miss Potter
• Young Victoria
• The Crown

CS Lewis

• Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe
• The Most Reluctant Convert
• Shadowlands

TV Series  

• Doc Martin** – at least watch the first two episodes available on YouTube -- you'll enjoy the trip much more.
• Broadchurch
• The Last Kingdom  (really recommend this one too)
• Outlander

Ireland “must see” films  -  (required watching before you come!)

• The Quiet Man with John Wayne required
• ​Evelyn with Pierce Brosnan
•  Waking Ned Devine will have you falling off your rocker with laughter-- if you haven't seen this Irish laugher, don't miss it! ​

Miss Potter

The Quiet Man - we visit the location where this was filmed

Waking Ned Devine will have you falling off your rocker with laughter-- if you haven't seen this Irish laugher, don't miss it!