There was a lot of reaction to the list when it first came out and the not unexpected squealing about "What about this title?" and "How could you leave out that one?"

But almost all of this wailing and gnashing of teeth failed to comply to the basic principle of the list which was that in addition to criteria centering on their enduring, global influence and significance at key times, all of them were British. Does that make the list flawed form the start? No, not if that was his goal in the first place - to find 12 British Books that Changed the World. It certainly makes the list flawed if his goal was to find 12 Books that Changed the World regardless of author's origin or citizenship. Perhaps he should have rename the show and the accompanying book so it's obvious to all just what his starting point is and we can compare apples to apples.

But he didn't so if the list itself is to be argued, let's give in and play in Bragg's sandbox. The titles must all be British. Fine. But even given that - it seems a list designed to provoke disagreement (call it 'debate' if you prefer but people get awfully huffy about books - and quite right too - so I imagine 'disagreement' is a more accurate description).

So without expanding the restrictions on scope (which would open floodgates impossible to close but which I would be glad to discuss if anyone wants in a discussion distinct from this one), I ponder some titles MIA from Bragg's list of British titles that have endured, have had global influence and significance at key times and my question is:

• I'll give you Shakespeare but where are Wodehouse and Dickens?
  
  
• The King James Bible? If the list were worldwide and time-wide in scope than yes - the Bible certainly (the Koran as well) but why is the King James Bible on this much more narrow list? How did this edition change the world more than other editions? Simply because it is British? It's use of the language? Why? I haven't gotten to that point in the program. Perhaps he will convince me but he'll have to work hard. Don't get me wrong - I am very willing to put the Bible up among the most influential works ever. But if I am asked to pick and edition or version that made the most impact - I'm going outside the sandbox and declaring Guttenberg's as the Impact Kahuna. More than a mere translation - it's very creation, it's existence has had a bigger, more wide reaching effect than any book in history. But - that's a discussion for another time. Back in the 'British titles' sandbox I go.
  
  
• Where is the Oxford English Dictionary? What madness is this?
  
  
• If the Magna Carta counts as a book, what about the Domesday Book - template for tax collections evermore. Don't tell me THAT hasn't changed the world. Which reminds me, wherefore is The Venerable Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
  
  
• Where are Pepys' Diaries or Boswell's Life of Johnson
  
  
• Did Bragg mislay his copies of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire or Macaulay's History of England