A sometimes shocking, often surprising, and always enjoyable, guide to the Europe you thought you knew such as:

• There are half a million machine guns in Swiss homes

• Without Islam Europe would not exist

• Europeans are genetically modified to consume more alcohol than the rest of the world

• Santa Claus lives in Greenland and he is broke

• Snails are fish according to the EU.

From the railway in Hungary run entirely by children to the British comedy sketch unknown in the UK but watched by millions across Europe every New Year’s Eve, Hartley reveals the idiosyncrasies and absurdities of Europe today.

Covering everything from poverty to pop music via politics and pirates, Did David Hasselhoff End the Cold War? paints a picture of an astonishing varied continent.

Find out where the worst place in Europe is, why Germans are required to pay a tax direct to the Church (unless they declare themselves unbelievers) and what the 12 starts on the EU flag actually represent.