Description: Christine Hamilton knows a Battleaxe when she sees one. But those expecting the sour stereotype... irrascible, granite-featured, humorless harridans -- are in for a sparkling surprise. This bevy of British Battleaxes brims with bonhommie and wit: from Queen Boadicea to Queen Victoria (who was amused from time to time); from Nancy Astor ('Of course I married beneath me... all women do') to Dame Irene Ward (who told Hitler 'What absolute bosh you are talking'); to Margaret Thatcher; from Barbara Cortland ('A man should not be a virgin on his wedding night. You want one person who knows what he is doing') to Cynthia Payne ('I was never very good in bed. I talked too much'); and Joan Collins... this highly entertaining star-studded book celebrates that special something which sets certain formidable women apart.

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