If you know someone called Carter, Francis or Mortimer, then you know someone with French origins. ese are just three of the hundreds of common ‘English’ names with their roots in Normandy. British history is entwined with that of our neighbours across the English Channel (la Manche to our Gallic cousins). But nothing so epitomises the endlessly uneasy relationship between England and France as the Hundred Years’ War (p28. England eventually lost – but had it not been for a freak storm in 1360, who knows how things might have panned out?
Sticking with the unknown, don’t miss our bumper pull-out supplement investigating the 50 greatest mysteries in history (centre pages, in which we explore subjects that have kept us guessing – from the sublime to the ridiculous.