Book review: Land Rover: The Story of the Car that Conquered the World by Ben Fogle

As English as fish and chips and as stylish as a cardboard box, the Land Rover is a love-it or hate-it kind of car. And if Ben-Fogle’s 300-page love letter to the iconic British vehicle is to be believed, it is also the world’s most common, with more than two million owners worldwide.

It is, he points out as he dons the red, white and blue jersey, truly a people’s car, more so even than Hitler’s pet project, the Volkswagen Beetle.

However, if it is now the vehicle of choice for the rural working man, it was first the toy of wealthy farmers, country squires, and royal families. Even today the whiff of new money hangs around souped-up luxury versions of the brand, with Ralph Lauren, Kevin Costner, and Sylvester Stallone regularly seen parading themselves and their Land Rovers on Hollywood Boulevard.