Best-seller is taken off the shelves for 'legal reasons'
By Susan Smith writing in The Scotsman, 9 March 2009

A best-selling book by political commentator Andrew Marr (pic left) is being recalled almost two years after it was first published "for legal reasons".

A History of Modern Britain has sold 250,000 copies since it was published to coincide with a five-part documentary television series in May 2007.

Now the book's publisher, Pan Macmillan, has issued a notice to booksellers asking for them to return unsold copies.

A "very well-known figure" is reportedly said to have objected to a phrase in the book.The remaining copies of the book, which has been published in both hardback and paperback, are likely to be destroyed.

It is expected be reissued with the offending passage removed.

Glasgow-born Marr, 49, a former political editor of The Scotsman who was educated in Scotland before attending Cambridge University, has recently finished a second volume of the book.

He declined to discuss the matter on his own BBC television show yesterday morning. He told panellists that they could talk about it themselves but that he could not because it was a legal matter.

The book covers the history of Britain from 1945 to the present day and received widespread critical acclaim when it went on sale. It argues that the second Elizabethan Age has been defeated by a culture of consumerism, celebrity and self-gratification.

Read the full piece at The Scotsman online.