8.4 /10 1 Votes
Series Asterix Artists Albert Uderzo Language French Date 1970 Followed by Asterix and the Normans | 4.2/5 Goodreads Writers Rene Goscinny Date of publication 1966 Originally published 9 September 1965 Preceded by Asterix and the Big Fight Illustrator René Goscinny | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar René Goscinny books, Asterix books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Asterix in Britain (French: Astérix chez les Bretons, "Asterix in the land of the Britons") is the eighth in the Asterix comic book series. It was published in serial form in Pilote magazine, issues 307-334, in 1965, and in album form in 1966. It tells the story of Asterix and Obelix's journey to Roman-occupied Britain.
Contents
Synopsis
Julius Caesar has invaded Britain and succeeded in his conquest; but a single village in Kent remains independent. One member of the village, Anticlimax, is dispatched to Gaul to enlist the help of Getafix the druid in providing magic potion for the British rebels. It is decided that Asterix (Anticlimax's second cousin twice removed) and Obelix should accompany him, to help transport a barrel of the potion; but while beating up a Roman galley in the English Channel, Obelix mentions the mission, which is reported to the Roman high command in Britain.
In Britain, the barrel of potion is confiscated from a pub cellar, along with all the barreled "warm beer" (bitter) and wine in Londinium, by the Romans, who set about tasting the barrels to find the right one. Soon the whole unit assigned to the testing is hopelessly drunk; whereupon Asterix and Obelix steal all the barrels labelled with Dipsomaniax's name, but Obelix is himself drunk and starts a fight with some passing Roman soldiers. During the commotion a thief steals the cart with the barrels. Anticlimax and Asterix leave Obelix at Dipsomaniax's pub to sleep off his hangover; but while Anticlimax and Asterix go in search of the thief, the Romans capture the sleeping Obelix and Dipsomaniax, and raze the pub. In the Tower of Londinium, Obelix wakes up and frees himself and Dipsomaniax out of the jail, and the three heroes, after a search, find the potion in use as a pick-me-up for a Rugby team. After this team wins their game, the protagonists seize the potion and escape on the river Thames, where the Romans destroy the barrel and release the potion into the water. At the independent village, Asterix eases the Britons' disappointment by feigning to remake the potion, with herbs later revealed to be tea. With a psychological boost, the village prevails against the Romans, and Asterix and Obelix return home to celebrate.
An audiobook of Asterix in Britain adapted by Anthea Bell and narrated by Willie Rushton was released on EMI Records Listen for Pleasure label in 1987.
Film adaptation
In other languages
Asterix in Britain has been translated into Asturian, Bengali, Bosnian, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Latin, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, and Welsh.