BOOKS.

MILLENNIUM: THE END OF THE WORLD AND THE FORGING OF CHRISTENDOM by Tom Holland (Little, Brown Press pounds 25) VERDICT: *****

Millennium tells the unlikely story of the rise of Western Europe. Of all the civilisations in existence in the year 1000 ours seemed the least likely to succeed.

The glory that was Rome was but a distant memory, and the continent had slipped into a cold, brutal dark age, overshadowed by Byzantium and Islam far to the East.

Christianity was struggling to survive as pagans and heretics threatened the fragmented principalities of Europe.

Everyone was braced for the Apocalypse they were sure would arrive in the year 1000 - but the chaos of the times did not herald the end of days - rather it was the birth pangs of the new world to come.

Tom Holland, author of the wonderful Rubicon and Persian Fire, covers the two centuries on either side of the Millennium, focusing on such topics as Canute, William the Conqueror, the rise of castles and the creation of knighthood.

Although eminently readable as always, Holland suffers slightly from the sheer scope of his subject, and Millennium seems slightly less focussed than his earlier works. A fascinating read nonetheless.

GARY YOUNG

THE PRIVATE EYE ANNUAL 2008 ed. Ian Hislop (Private Eye pounds 9.99) VERDICT: *****

IT can be a bit hit-and-miss - but Private Eye is still the only magazine which prompts so many laugh-out-loud moments.

It is priceless too for the sharp poke in the eye it delivers to the often pompous and incompetent asses who govern us.

John Prescott is an easy target and so is his old boss Tony Blair.

But a relatively new punchbag is presidentelect 'Borick Obarmy' while the Lord Mayoralty of London has brought 'Boris Beano' into the front row of the firing line.

I love too the cartoons - some of them quite surreal, like the one where the husband is shouting to his wife: "The cat's finishing off your sudoku again."

Clever cat, smart book.

ALF BENNETT