Last refreshed at 0600GMT Friday The best five books on everything | 30 July 2010

Henry V

William Shakespeare
Image of Henry V (Oxford World's Classics; the Oxford Shakespeare)

Like Prince Hal, Bush did go from nothing, from having been written off by his family, to doing what nobody in the family thought he was capable of. But then in Henry V, when he is king, he is the most militaristic and the most religious king of all Shakespeare’s kings. It is a patriotic play and he is a triumphant leader but he drains the country’s resources with war.