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A Signaller's War: The Sketchbook Diary of Pte L. Ellis
by David LangleyAs the First World War roared into its second year, 17-year-old Lawrence Ellis marched into his recruitment office and signed up, eager to fight for King and Country. Underage, as so many were, it wasn’t until he had cut his teeth in the Royal Field Artillery that Ellis joined the Corps of Royal Signallers. It was some years after the war, however, that the private began to commit his memories to art and words. A Signaller’s War includes a poignant selection of Ellis’ images, portraying the conditions, experiences and hopes of the common soldier in the trenches of the Western Front. Often humorous, sometimes horrific, always honest, this collection is a unique insight into the life of a young volunteer who grows from a boy to a man during his service, after witnessing the aftermath of the Somme and action at Cambrai. He was not a trained artist, writer or diarist, yet his work demonstrates a skill and sensitivity that will leave the reader breathless.
Universal Basic Income: Pennies from Heaven
by Paul O'BrienThis book is about a radical idea: the idea that each of us deserves enough money on which to live - and that it should be paid independently of our personal means, and independently of whether we work, or even want to work. The concept of ‘basic income’ has been discussed internationally and has the potential to revolutionise the way that society functions. It would provide greater security for the young, for the self-employed and entrepreneurs as well as reshaping the social welfare system in its entirety. In this book, author and academic Dr Paul O’Brien explores the arguments for and against the idea and explains how this very real proposal might work in practise.
Suburbia: A Far from Ordinary Place
by David RandallThe suburbs – long sneered at for being dreary and stultifying – have always been far livelier and more entertaining than they’re given credit for. In this witty and sharply observed account of what it was like to grow up in one in the 1950s and ’60s, David Randall gives the other side of suburbia: full of absurdities and happiness, scandals and follies, and inhabitants both sage and silly. Here, at last, is the truth about what life was really like behind the often-closed (but not always net) curtains of our semi-detacheds. This is that rare book: a most unmiserable memoir.
Royal Poxes and Potions: Royal Doctors and Their Secrets
by Raymond Lamont-BrownRoyal Poxes and Potions is a fascinating look at the relationship between monarchs and their doctors and reveals the complex and influential position that they held. Acclaimed biographer Raymond Lamont Brown casts light on a previously overlooked aspect of the monarchy and the secrets it conceals. From the instigation of the royal doctor in medieval times and up to the present day, the tales of secrets, murder, medical incompetence and revolutionary operations make compelling reading. Included here is Sir William Gull, court physician to Queen Victoria, who was a suspect in the Jack the Ripper case, and Sir Frederick Treves, who was not only court physician to the four succeeding monarchs, but was also the man who helped to rescue the Elephant Man, Joseph Merrick, from a fairground freak show.
Band on the Bus: Around the World in a Double-Decker
by Richard KingWhen nine friends set out from England in 1969 to travel the world in a double-decker bus called ‘Hairy Pillock’, little did they know that they would become honorary citizens of Texas, hold the keys to New York, release a record in Australia, perform for the Shah and Empress of Iran, and appear on countless television and radio shows around the world. Their epic three-year journey, which began as a bet with the landlord of their local pub, took them across perilous roads through Europe to Iran and Afghanistan, through the Khyber Pass to Pakistan and India, then to Australia and, finally, the United States and Canada. Initially planning on getting work as export salesmen, they soon had to supplement their meagre funds by performing the folk songs they sang in the pubs back home, after which they achieved minor stardom as The Philanderers throughout Australia and the US. This light-hearted account follows the group on their trip across deserts and mountains, as they undertook an incredible expedition that would be impossible today.
Votes for Women: Cheltenham and the Cotswolds
by Sue Jones Felicity LottIn 1918, after years of campaigning, many British women over the age of 30 gained a parliamentary vote. Cheltenham was the hub of activity in the Cotswolds, and before the First World War it had a number of vigorous societies and individuals. From being imprisoned for trying to approach the prime minister to refusing to be counted in the 1911 census, local women – and many men – from across the region fought a valiant and dignified campaign to make their voices heard. At a time when women had very little power inside or outside the home, this is the story of how they supported each other to demand a say in the affairs of the country. Richly illustrated and featuring previously undiscovered material, this is the first book to investigate the women’s suffrage movement in the Cotswolds and to celebrate the many who supported the cause.
Blitz Diary: Life Under Fire in the Second World War
by Carol Harris Mike BrownDuring the 1930s, war with Germany became increasingly likely. The British Government believed that it would start with massed ranks of enemy planes, dropping bombs and poison gas on civilians in major towns and cities, terrifying them into surrendering. When war broke out, preparations to protect the population were piecemeal and inadequate. As anticipated, people were shocked by the first raids and the response of rescue services was chaotic. But far from breaking morale, the Blitz galvanised public opinion in support of the war. Soon people became hardened by their experiences and attacks from the air became a normal, albeit terrible, part of daily life. Blitz Diary tells the story in a remarkable series of eyewitness accounts from the war’s earliest and darkest days through to the end, when the V-2 rockets brought devastation without warning. Preservation of such first-hand accounts has become increasingly important as the Blitz fades from living memory. This expanded edition includes new chapters and new accounts from key eyewitnesses.
Nobody's Child: The True Story or Growing up in a Yorkshire Children's Home
by G. J. UrquhartNot yet four years old, Gloria was forcibly separated from her baby brother Kevin and entered into the often-brutal world of the Rothwell Children’s Home, where she found occasional moments of caring among the toughest of environments. In this book, we move through Gloria’s childhood and learn of the deep friendship of two ‘aunts’ she meets during the fostering process, the twists and turns in her search for Kevin, her nervous breakdown and her incarceration in an old Victorian-style institution where Gloria is visited by two unfamiliar relatives, with whom she is forced to live. Aged twenty-one, Gloria starts independent living, allowing her to re-establish her friendship with her aunts, who reveal her father’s identity. True love then follows as she meets and marries Robert Urquhart, who supports her unwaveringly in her desperate and passionate quest to find her brother. This powerful memoir sheds light on what life was like in a 1950s children's home and follows the author on her compelling journey to find happiness and a family of her own.
Haunted Bolton
by Stuart Hilton Michelle CardnoDiscover the spooky side of Bolton with this terrifying collection of true-life tales from across the town. Featuring eyewitness accounts from a haunted room, sealed up for forty years at the Blue Boar pub, to the ghostly female resident at the Old Duke and the Westhoughton poltergeist, this book includes pulse-raising narratives that are guaranteed to make your blood run cold. Richly illustrated, and featuring eyewitness interviews and previously unpublished investigation accounts carried out by the authors and the Lancashire Hauntings team, Haunted Bolton will send a chill up the spine of all who read it.
The Dracula Secrets: Jack the Ripper and the Darkest Sources of Bram Stoker
by Neil R StoreySince the first publication of Dracula in 1897, there have been suggestions that the book’s protagonist is more closely associated with Jack the Ripper than a Transylvanian count. In The Dracula Secrets, historian Neil R. Storey undertakes an in-depth investigation of the sources used by Stoker during the writing of his seminal masterpiece. Painting an evocative portrait of Stoker, his influences, his friends and the London he frequented in the late nineteenth century, Storey explores how Stoker created Dracula out of the climate of fear that was created by the Whitechapel murders in 1888. Indeed he asks, did Stoker know Jack the Ripper personally and hide the clues to this terrible knowledge in his book? Having gained unprecedented access to the unique archive of one of Stoker’s most respected friends and the dedicatee of Dracula, Storey sheds new light on both Stoker and Dracula, and reveals startling new links between Stoker’s creation and the most infamous serial killer of all time.
Flying Past: Tales of Displaying Classic Historic Aircraft
by Mike BrookeFOLLOWING the four books describing his successful career as a military and civilian pilot, in Flying Past Mike Brooke gives the reader a fascinating insight into his experiences flying historic aircraft at airshows in the UK and Europe. From the highs to the lows he takes us through the feeling of flying a Spitfire, working with the Red Devils Parachute Team, flying with The Shuttleworth Collection and in the Harvard Formation Team, and the pressures put on display pilots – as well as the importance of preparation, discipline and safety. This entertaining and informative collection of stories will not only delight the many who have enjoyed Mike’s series of memoirs so far, but also appeal to anyone with an interest in classic historic aircraft, aerobatics and airshows.
VCs Handbook: The Western Front 1914-1918
by Gerald GliddonOn the Western Front during the First World War, 490 men won the British Empire's highest award for gallantry, the Victoria Cross. A companion for any visitor to the First World War battlefields in France and Flanders, this reference book lists every VC recipient from 1914 to 1918 in alphabetical order.
World War II: A Military History
by Alan WarrenIn the First World War many battles on the Western Front had lasted weeks or months. All too often they degenerated into glacial and indecisive campaigns of attrition. By the 1930s, however, military science had recreated the possibility of a decisive battle. An unprecedented rate of technological change meant that a stream of new inventions were readily at hand for military innovators to exploit. Aircraft, armoured vehicles and new forms of motorised transport became available to make possible a fresh style of offensive warfare when the next European war began in 1939. A belief in the importance of effective war fighting was vital to the Nazi vision of Germany's future. Nazi Germany's political and military leaders aimed for rapid and decisive victory in battle. From 1939-45 new ideologies and new machines of war carried destruction across the globe. Alan Warren chronicles the sixteen most decisive battles of the Second World War, from the Blitzkrieg of Poland to the fall of Berlin.
Quantum of Silliness: The Peculiar World of Bond, James Bond
by Robbie SimsWho gives the hammiest performance in a Bond film? What is the series’ most cringeworthy moment? What quips would Sir Roger Moore come out with if he starred in Licence to Kill? These are the sort of questions you never knew you needed answering. It’s Bond, James Bond – but as you’ve never seen him before.
A Grim Almanac of Oxfordshire
by Nicola SlyA Grim Almanac of Oxfordshire is a day-by-day catalogue of 366 ghastly tales from the county’s past. There are murders and manslaughters, including the killing by Mrs Barber of her entire family in 1909 while temporarily insane, and the brutal murder of four-year-old Edward Busby in 1871, killed by his mother to prevent his father ill-treating him. There are bizarre deaths, including those of four-year-old Charles Taylor, who was accidentally kicked clean through a top storey window in 1844 by a child playing on a swing, George Sheppard, who was struck by a cricket ball during a match in 1905, and of the vicar of Bucknell, who starved himself to death in 1935. There is an assortment of calamities which include strange and unusual crimes, devastating fires, rail crashes, explosions, disasters, mysteries, freak weather and a plethora of uncanny accidents. Generously illustrated, this chronicle is an entertaining and readable record of Oxfordshire’s grim past. Delve into the dreadful deeds of Oxford’s past, if you dare…
Live, Work and Play: A Centenary History of Welwyn Garden City
by Mark ClapsonBooks about history using real life memories recorded specifically for the purpose are rare, Live, Work & Play is just such a book. Created from the hundreds of reminiscences of the residents of the town gathered by the WGC Heritage Trust and put into historical context by Prof Mark Clapson , one of the UK’s leading social historians, the book offers a unique insight into the creation of the UK’s second garden city. Timed to appear at the start of 2020, when Welwyn Garden City achieves its 100th year, the history of Sir Ebenezer Howard’s final masterpiece, with all its imperfections, is laid out for all to read. Now thriving and at ease with itself WGC is an example of how to create homes for its community. Created as a Garden City in 1920, developed as a New Town from 1948 the lessons it offers are invaluable to both developers and governments alike.
In Turbulent Skies: British Aviation Successes and Setbacks - 1945-1975
by Peter ReeseIn 1945 confidence in British aviation was sky-high. Yet decades later, the industry had not lived up to its potential. What happened? The years that followed the war saw the Brabazon Committee issue flawed proposals for civil aviation planning. Enforced cancellations restricted the advancement of military aircraft, compounded later on by Defence Minister Duncan Sandys abandoning aircraft to fixate solely on missiles. Commercially, Britain’s small and neglected domestic market hindered the development of civilian airliners. In the production of notorious aircraft, the inauspicious Comet came from de Havilland’s attempts to gain an edge over its American competitors. The iconic Harrier jump jet and an indigenous crop of helicopters were squandered, while unrealistic performance requirements brought about the cancellation of TSR2. Peter Reese explores how repeated financial crises, a lack of rigour and fatal self-satisfaction led British aviation to miss vital opportunities across this turbulent period in Britain’s skies.
We Died With Our Boots Clean: The Youngest Royal Marine Commando in WWII
by Kenneth McAlpineAt the age of seventeen, Kenneth McAlpine ran away from the Repton school to join Churchill's new elite special force, the Royal Marine Commandos. As the youngest member of the youngest commando force, after three months he found himself fighting on the beaches of Normandy. In We Died With Our Boots Clean, McAlpine tells his own unique story of World War II and his highly eventful military career. From an unusual encounter with Montgomery and Patton, a concerted attempt to kill a sergeant major and his best friend’s arrest for swearing at the Queen of Holland, McAlpine paints a fascinating picture of commando life and the harsh training that prepared soldiers for frontline combat in an elite unit. Full of absorbing anecdotes such as his time in a military prison and a rescue operation at a concentration camp, this book is an essential part of a World War II enthusiast’s library.
The Children of Silence: A Frances Doughty Mystery 5
by Linda StratmannLondon, 1881: When a body is found in the Paddington canal basin, a woman with a hearing impairment claims that the remains are those of her missing husband, who disappeared three years ago. Unable to prove her case, she appeals to Frances Doughty, the lady detective, to investigate. In this, her fifth case, Frances soon learns that the missing man has secrets of his own, and, when another body is discovered and a witness is viciously attacked, it becomes clear that she must choose her allies wisely. The fifth book in the popular Frances Doughty Mystery series.
The Granite Men: A History of the Granite Industries of Aberdeen and North East Scotland
by Jim FiddesGranite is the most unyielding of building materials. The great granite quarries of the North East are silent now, as are virtually all of the 100 granite yards that existed in Aberdeen around the year 1900. Yet in its time, the granite industry of north-east Scotland was the engine that built civilisations. As early as the sixteenth century, granite from Aberdeen and its vicinities was building castles. In the heyday of the mid-nineteenth century, the granite men of the North East hewed this material from the bowels of the earth and used it to fashion the iconic structures that defined the age. It paved the streets and embankments of London. It was used to build bridges over the Thames. It was carved into monuments for kings and commoners not only in Britain but all over the world. None of it possible without the men that toiled in those quarries and yards. This is the story of those granite men and their industry.
Tudor Women: Queens and Commoners
by Alison PlowdenThe Tudor era belongs to its women. No other period of English history has produced so many notable and interesting women, and into other periods have they so powerfully influenced the course of political events. Mary Tudor, Elizabeth I and, at moments of high drama, Mary Queen of Scots dominated the political scene for more than half a century, while in the previous fifty years Henry VIII's marital escapades brought six more women to the centre of attention. In this book the women of the royal family are the central characters; the royal women set the style and between them they provide a dazzling variety of personalities as well as illustrating almost every aspect of life as it affected women in Tudor England. We know what they ate, how they dressed, the books they read and the letters they wrote. Even the greatest of them suffered the universal legal and physiological disabilities of womanhood - some survived them, some went under. Now revised and updated, Alison Plowden's beautifully written account of the women behind the scenes and at the forefront of sixteenth-century English history will be welcomed by anyone interested in exploring this popular period of history from the point of view of the women who made it.
George Best: pocket GIANTS
by Jim WhiteOn Sunday 5 October 2014, the 75,000 strong crowd at Old Trafford for Manchester United’s game against Everton joined in with an extended version of a chant which echoed around the stadium. ‘We all live in a Georgie Best world,’ it went. Eleven years after his death, forty years after he walked out of the club for the last time as a player, Best remains a Giant – extraordinary given that his star shone for such a brief time. He was at the top of the game for no more than half a dozen years. How did he do it?
Battle of the Atlantic
by Marc MilnerWorld War II was only a few hours old when the Battle of the Atlantic, the longest campaign of the Second World War and the most complex submarine war in history, began with the sinking of the unarmed passenger liner Athenia by the German submarine U30. Based on the mastery of the latest research and written from a mid-Atlantic - rather than the traditional Anglo-centric - perspective, Marc Milner focuses on the confrontation between opposing forces and the attacks on Allied shipping that lay at the heart of the six-year struggle. Against the backdrop of the battle for the Atlantic lifeline he charts the fascinating development of U-boats and the techniques used by the Allies to suppress and destroy these stealth weapons.
Women in the War Zone: Hospital Service in the First World War
by Anne PowellIn our collective memory, the First World War is dominated by men. The sailors, soldiers, airmen and politicians about whom histories are written were male, and the first half of the twentieth century was still a time when a woman's place was thought to be in the home. It was not until the Second World War that women would start to play a major role both in the armed forces and in the factories and the fields. Yet there were some women who were able to contribute to the war effort between 1914 and 1918, mostly as doctors and nurses. In Women in the War Zone, Anne Powell has selected extracts from first-hand accounts of the experiences of those female medical personnel who served abroad during the First World War. Covering both the Western and the Eastern Fronts, from Petrograd to Basra and from Antwerp to the Dardanelles, they include nursing casualties from the Battle of Ypres, a young doctor put in charge of a remote hospital in Serbia and a nurse who survived a torpedo attack, albeit with serious injuries. Filled with stories of bravery and kindliness, it is a book that honours the often unsung contribution made by the female doctors and nurses who helped to alleviate some of the suffering of the First World War.
Lockerbie: The Truth
by Douglas BoydOn 21 December 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 from Frankfurt to Detroit was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 243 passengers and sixteen crew. Large sections of the aircraft, bodies and personal effects crashed onto residential areas of Lockerbie, Scotland, resulting in the deaths of a further eleven people on the ground. The psychological damage to traumatised residents would take many years to disappear; in some cases, it never did. Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi is the only person to have been convicted of the crime – though few believe that he acted alone and some believe him innocent. Author Douglas Boyd presents evidence that it was Iran, not Libya, which was responsible for the attack. On 3 July 1988 (less than six months before the Lockerbie bombing), Iran Air flight 655 was in Iranian airspace on a Bandar Abbas-Dubai flight when it was shot down by missiles from the USS Vincennes sailing illegally into Iranian territorial waters. Government leader Ayatollah Khomeini decreed that blood should flow in revenge. However, this line of enquiry was quietly closed and Libya declared guilty because the White House wanted neighbouring Syria and Iran on-side for the build-up to the first Gulf War against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. Lockerbie: The Truth at last reveals the facts about what happened on that awful night at Lockerbie.