'Ridiculously enjoyable'
Tom Holland
 
A Book of the Year for The Times, Mail on Sunday and BBC History Magazine
 
The 'Mermaid of Morwenstow' excommunicated a cat for mousing on a Sunday.
 
When he was late for a service, Bishop Lancelot Fleming commandeered a Navy helicopter.
 
'Mad Jack' swapped his surplice for leopard skin and insisted on being carried around in a coffin.

And then there was the man who, like Noah's evil twin, tried to eat one of each of God's creatures . . . In spite of all this they saw the church as their true calling.
 
These portraits reveal the Anglican church in all its colourful madness.