Woodstock-based author Ashley Jackson (a Visiting Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford), has crafted a dozen non-fiction short “stories” of iconic buildings from around the British Empire, each lovingly described in its historical context. This is not an architectural history, but an examination of our colonising rule, showing how we established ourselves in foreign places and imposed our organisation and institutions on the indigenous populations. The illustrations, many in colour, include a map of the Empire showing how it once covered a fifth of the habitable planet.

He has chosen a representative lot, running from the 13th to the 21st centuries, including Dublin Castle, Kuala Lumpur Railway Station, Raffles Hotel in Singapore, and Norman Foster’s Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank.

There are themes: migration and overseas settlement illustrated by his tale of two towns, Spanish town in Jamaica and Williamsburg in Virginia; the transportation of flora and fauna with the beautiful Botanic gardens in Christchurch, New Zealand; and military expansion, illuminated by his piece on Fort St Angelo in Malta.

I particularly enjoyed reading about the only home structure, the British Empire Stadium at Wembley, the old concrete Twin Towers stadium beloved of football fans.

This was built by McAlpine in time for the 1923 FA Cup Final but designed for the following year’s British Empire Exhibition: “a lavish exercise in indoctrination as well as entertainment”.

It was surrounded by pavilions representing the component parts of Empire (more than 70), which impressed young John Betjeman, who wrote a poem mourning the exhibition’s passing for his 1972 documentary on Metro-Land. Jackson’s brief histories do not end with the Empire. He lets us know how the buildings’ uses developed as new national identities were established. Some outcomes are good, others a little sad.

This is a particularly interesting analysis of the influence of the British, using well-chosen examples to explain his view. An absorbing study which encourages the reader to visit these remarkable places.