The Great Unfrocked: 2000 Years of Church Scandal by Matthew Paris (Robson Books, £9.99 in UK)

No, this is not just another account of dissolute Medieval or Renaissance Popes and cardinals, nor a quick squint through convent…

No, this is not just another account of dissolute Medieval or Renaissance Popes and cardinals, nor a quick squint through convent and monastery keyholes. It is, on the whole, rather a lightweight compilation but the material is rich and varied, and not merely a chronicle of clerical lechery. Of course the Rector of Stiffkey appears ("I do not know what the buttock is") and poor Bishop Casey is dragged in too, as well as another and earlier Irish cleric, Dr Percy Jocelyn - for obvious reasons, nicknamed "the Arse Bishop." But Judas Iscariot is listed as an example of religious treachery, while the infamous Titus Oates, inventor of the Papal Plot under Charles II, is arraigned as one of the great liars of history.