View source for Braver Than Britain, Occasionally by Spadge Whittaker

{{infobox1 
|title=Braver Than Britain, Occasionally
|sort=
|author=Spadge Whittaker 
|reviewer=Jill Murphy
|genre=Lifestyle
|summary=In which Spadge researches Britain's top ten fears and faces them all over the course of a year. Funny and silly and, yes, brave, this is a joyous little book. EXCEPT FOR THE SPIDERS. Spadge Whittaker popped into Bookbag Towers to [[The Interview: Bookbag Talks To Spadge Whittaker|chat to us]].
|rating=4
|buy=Yes
|borrow=Yes
|pages=150
|publisher=Spadge UK
|website=http://spadgeuk.com/blog/
|date=October 2015
|isbn=0993429904 
|cover=0993429904
|aznuk=0993429904
|aznus=0993429904
}}

Before I begin, I just want to say that this book has the best cover quote ever, ever, ever. 

''I'm mostly just glad you stopped writing vampire porn.''

I live in hope that I have the opportunity to say that to someone one day. Really, I do.

Anyway. ''Braver Than Britain'' - in which Spadge researches Britain's top ten fears and faces them all over the course of a year. We're quite a fearful society, you know. And the things we fear most are, in order: heights (acrophobia), snakes (ophidiophobia), public speaking (glossophobia), spiders (arachnophobia), small spaces (claustrophobia), mice (musophobia), needles (trypanophobia), flying (pteromerhanophobia), crowds (agoraphobia) and clowns (coulrophobia).

Which of those frighten you? I'm immune to them all, except for heights and spiders. But when I say except for heights and spiders, I mean except for HEIGHTS and SPIDERS. Spadge's biggest fears among these are flying, spiders and public speaking. We could look at this in two ways: firstly, I'm braver than Spadge because I am frightened by fewer things; secondly, Spadge is braver than me because she is prepared to face her fears and the chances of me touching a SPIDER or braving HEIGHTS sit at a big fat zero. I think we can safely say that Spadge is braver than me.

Over the course of ten chapters, Spadge lets a tarantula crawl up her arm, abseils down Lincoln Cathedral, gets her nipples pierced and allows herself to be imprisoned in a car boot for hours on end, among many other feats of courage, all accompanied by photographic evidence. I won't lie: I skimmed the SPIDER chapter. Even photos of SPIDERS are enough to send me running for the hills.

I have to hand it to Spadge. The resulting book is funny and silly and brave, and above all ''joyous''. We all know that facing our fears is generally a good thing, even if we don't always do it, but who knew that facing other people's fears would be so illuminating? I loved this journey through the preoccupations of my fellow Brits and I loved the way Spadge approached it all with a good heart and typically British self-deprecation. Really, I loved everything about it. EXCEPT FOR THE SPIDERS.

And if that weren't enough for you, all the profits from ''Braver Than Britain'' will be going to [http://sarcoma.org.uk/ Sarcoma UK], the bone and soft tissue cancer charity. Sarcoma is a lesser known cancer and this charity needs all the support it can get. What better reason to buy this lovely little book? And what better reason to face your fears than raising money for it?

Recommended.  It's decidedly more useful than [[Living and Working in the UK by Mathew Collins and Nicky Barclay]].

We think [[The Question Book by Mikael Krogerus and Roman Tschappeler]] and [[Very British Problems Abroad by Rob Temple]] are two more books that will 1) make you laugh, 2) enlighten you and 3) make wonderful gifts.

You can read more about Spadge Whittaker [[:Category:Spadge Whittaker|here]]

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