Being British, the eighth 'Asterix' book is naturally one I've been especially looking forward to. I'm pretty sure that I've never read this one before, but it's a lot of fun, even if a good deal of that fun is aimed directly at our particular little quirks. As Obelix inevitably points out, "Those Britons are crazy!" Of course, I'm reading the English translation, so not all the jokes remain exactly the same as they were in the original French, but the spirit feels accurate.

The setup is a good one and René Goscinny gives the perennial pirates the first page. This time it's not the Gauls who cause their downfall; it's the fact that they're in the Mare Britannicum, better known today as the English Channel, and they're right in the way of Julius Caesar's invading army and navy. They go through the pirates to get to Britain and then go through the Britons on account of their army stopping for a cup of hot water with milk at five and for a full weekend. I completely failed to get the joke in the name of Cassivellaunus, the losing general, but that's because it isn't one at all. He was a historical British military leader who united tribes in a failed attempt to stop Caesar during his second expedition to Britain in 54 BC. I should have known that.

Of course, I did get the name of Mykingdomforanos, the chief of the one small village in Cantium that holds out alone against the weight of the Roman army. Sound familiar? I also get the names of his fellow chiefs, Overoptimistix and McAnix, a Caledonian chieftain, and Anticlimax, who has a first cousin once removed over in Gaul who goes by the name of Asterix. His village is holding out against the Romans because of their druid's magic potion, so it's clearly time for him to visit his cousin and borrow some. It does help that he's part of the Oxbrigienses tribe, so an outstanding rower. Yes, that's a University Boat Race joke. I'm not going to miss anything here!

With most of the Romans in Britain, peace reigns in Gaul and it's reigning hard enough for Obelix to proclaim that he's bored. I like that pun. I also like the confusion in communication that arises when Anticlimax shows up. "What do you keep saying what for?" asks Obelix, getting the reply, "I say, sir, don't you know what's what, what?" Of course, Getafix is more than happy to oblige with a barrel of magic potion but Anticlimax can't lift it, so Asterix and Obelix promptly join him on their journey back to Britain, partly to carry the barrel but mostly to have fun with the Romans.

What follows is quintessential Asterix, with a notably British flavour. You can imagine a lot of the jokes already. They poke fun at our fondness for warm beer, driving on the wrong side of the road, obsession with gardening, imperial currency, the lack of the metric system, double decker buses, umbrellas, unflappable politeness, even Beatlemania! After all, the French original was serialised in 1965, published in album form in 1966 and translated in 1970. Naturally, the Beatles turn out to be a quartet of bards very popular indeed with riotous young ladies.

There are specific jokes too, some traditional and some opportunistic. Rather than encountering the pirates, our questing trio encounter a Roman galley that's transporting part of the Aquarium garrison to Britain. They recognise the indomitable Gauls, of course, but the captain is befuddled when three men in a boat (ah, there's a Jerome K. Jerome joke!) decide to board them. They find themselves saved only by a sudden fog, which descends at random every now and again, which has prompted the Britons to dig a tunnel to Gaul to avoid it. They haven't got very far yet and it'll take them a long time to finish it. Of course, it finally opened in 1994, twenty-four years after this book was published in English.

The translators, as always Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge, are in fine form naming Britons and Romans both. The Roman governor is Encyclopaedicus Britannicus. The proprietor of the Jug and Amphora is Dipsomaniax. He becomes a pivotal player, because the barrel of magic potion is soon confiscated from his pub by the Roman army, along with every barrel of ale in Londinium, starting a merry chase throughout the city with that one barrel a particularly potent MacGuffin. It's also a fantastic way to send up British pub culture, with the Roman soldiers tasked with tasting each of the barrels falling down drunk and launching into British pub songs. "Roll out the barrel!"

Obelix gets crazy drunk too, which prompts him and Dipsomanix to be captured and confined in the sinister Tower of Londinium, with my favourite scene in the book the one where he sobers up and breaks out just as Asterix is breaking in from the other side. Up and down they go, beating up all and sundry, until they join forces once more and rejoin the plot at hand, which will promptly take us to a rugby game that's almost as much good friendly violent fun. As always, this runs only forty-eight pages, with the story proper starting on page five, so Goscinny and Uderzo pack in a serious amount of action and jokes into not a heck of a lot of space. This one just doesn't slow down.

Sure, the final touch is a thoroughly expected one, as Getafix reveals what the mysterious herbs were that he sent along with Asterix just in case, but it's still effective for all that, a good way to wrap things up. There's even another scene with the pirates, though Asterix and Obelix are keen enough to get home that they don't bother with them and they ironically run aground as they try to escape the fight they fully believed was about to manifest. It's a good way to wrap up what has been a thoroughly good-natured romp.

I believe my favourite thus far has to still be 'Asterix and the Banquet' but this may well rank just behind it. Let's see what happens next month in 'Asterix and the Normans'. ~~ Hal C F Astell

For more titles by René Goscinny click here
For more titles by Albert Uderzo click here