An encyclopedic work in the tradition of Dr. Johnson and one of the most remarkable publishing ventures of recent years. Arnold-Baker wrote every one of its thousands of pithy, erudite and sometimes eccentric entries... The latest edition, the third, published independently by Loncross Denholm, is the definitive version. Paul Lay, The Guardian, 16th. July 2009.

... A book I have been enjoying enormously is The Companion to British History, by Charles Arnold-Baker. It is hard to find. WH Smith does not carry it. I rang the publisher.. and asked if he knew where it was stocked, so I could at least browse before shelling out GBP 48, which may seem a lot, but isn´t for 14,000 entries and 1.8 million words. He directed me to a shop in Mayfair called Heywood Hill. I arrived in the pouring rain to find it apparently closed. But the owner suddenly darted out and said that he would love to serve me, except that someone had fused his lights. However, without much pleading by me, he managed to find the book in the darkness, and I read it by what remai ned of the light from the street. When I wrote a cheque, by candlelight, they refused my bank card, no doubt deeming it far too modern. I expect they would gladly have accepted Tsarist bonds instead of new-fangled decimal currency. The book is an astonishing achievement. Mr. Arnold-Baker, who has at one time or another been a spy, a lawyer and an academic, and who commanded Churchill´s bodyguard during the war, wrote the entire thing himself over 30 years. It must be the last great one-man work of reference. Want to know what a lascar was? Or why so many pubs are named after the Marquess of Granby? Feel uneasy that you can´t quite recall what the Grand Remonstrance of 1641 was? It´s such a compelling book for dipping into that I´d like to keep it in the toilet, except that would be a destiny unworthy of such a splendid work. Though I suppose it might be good feng shui. Simon Hoggart, the Guardian, January 16 1999.