Search results for ""author roy"

HMS Royal Oak was a Revenge-class battleship of the British Royal Navy, infamously torpedoed at anchor by the German submarine U-47 on 14 October 1939. Royal Oak was anchored at Scapa Flow in Orkney, Scotland when she became the first of the five Royal Navy battleships and battle cruisers sunk in the Second World War. The loss of life was heavy: of Royal Oak's complement of 1,234 men and boys, 833 were killed that night or died later of their wounds. The raid made an immediate celebrity and war hero out of the German U-boat commander, Gunther Prien, who became the first submarine officer to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. To the British, the raid demonstrated that the Germans were capable of bringing the naval war to their home waters, and the shock resulted in rapidly arranged changes to dockland security. Now lying upside-down in 30 m of water with her hull 5 m beneath the surface, Royal Oak is a designated war grave. Includes 103 Photographs

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Continuous professional development of chemistry teachers is essential for any effective chemistry teaching due to the evolving nature of the subject matter and its instructional techniques. Professional development aims to keep chemistry teaching up-to-date and to make it more meaningful, more educationally effective, and better aligned to current requirements. Presenting models and examples of professional development for chemistry teachers, from pre-service preparation through to continuous professional development, the authors walk the reader through theory and practice. The authors discuss factors which affect successful professional development, such as workload, availability and time constraints, and consider how we maintain the life-long learning of chemistry teachers. With a solid grounding in the literature and drawing on many examples from the authors’ rich experiences, this book enables researchers and educators to better understand teachers’ roles in effective chemistry education and the importance of their professional development.

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The occupation of San Juan Island by the Royal Marines between 1860 and 1872 marked the last time "redcoats" would be stationed in lands south of the 49th parallel. Following the nearly disastrous "Pig War" crisis, their primary mission with their U.S. Army counterparts was keeping the peace on an island considered ripe for the taking by Britons and Americans alike. Drawing on historical, archaeological and photographic research, Outpost of Empire offers an intriguing glimpse of a frontier garrison in the Victorian age.

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The return of a Brighton girl turned movie star spells nothing but trouble for Detective Superintendent Roy Grace in the gripping crime novel Not Dead Yet, by award winning author Peter James.Gaia Lafayette has a movie to shoot back home and Grace is in charge of her security. Yet when a vicious gangster is released from prison and an unidentifiable headless torso is found, a nightmare unfolds before Grace’s eyes.An obsessed stalker is after Gaia – and Grace knows that they may be at large in his city, waiting, watching, planning . . .Although the Roy Grace novels can be read in any order, Not Dead Yet is the eighth thrilling title in the bestselling series. Enjoy more of the Brighton detective’s investigations with Dead Man's Time and Want You Dead.Now a major ITV series, Grace, starring John Simm.

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Pathway to the Stars takes readers on a remarkable journey spanning one hundred years of the Royal Canadian Air Force. This beautifully illustrated book shares the rich history of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) on its 100th anniversary. Produced in partnership with the RCAF Foundation, Pathway to the Stars tells the story of the people, the technologies, and the events that shaped the RCAF from 1924 to 2024. Presenting 100 stories to align with 100 years of the RCAF, the book explores the many ways in which the RCAF contributed to advances in aviation over the past century, from the invention of the G-suit to the development of the first helicopter landing system on a naval ship to the design of the first flight-safety organization for investigating crashes. As we look forward to the next generation of the RCAF, Pathway to the Stars brings to light an inspirational story about Canada and its place in the world over the past century. Proceeds from this book support the ongoing programs of the RCAF Foundation, a Canadian charity that works to celebrate Canada's rich aviation history and future.

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This superbly illustrated study explores the epic clashes of British and German heavy cruisers at the beginning of World War II. The opposing heavy cruisers of the German Kriegsmarine and the Royal Navy engaged in a global game of cat and mouse during the opening years of World War II. This was a period in which the heavy cruiser still reigned supreme in open waters, with the opposing sides reluctant to risk their battleships, and aircraft yet to dominate the seas. These swift vessels fought each other in the South Atlantic, North Atlantic, the frigid waters of the Denmark Strait and the Arctic approaches to Russia, capturing the public imagination in the process. This fascinating and beautifully illustrated book examines the design, development and technical performance of these opposing warships, and explores the clashes between them at the Battle of the River Plate in December 1939, the Christmas Day Battle 1940 and the Battle of the Denmark Strait in May 1941. The ships examined include the Deutschland-class Panzerschiffe and Admiral Hipper-class cruisers, and the Royal Navy County- and York-class heavy cruisers.

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Garcilaso de la Vega, the first native of the New World to attain importance as a writer in the Old, was born in Cuzco in 1539, the illegitimate son of a Spanish cavalier and an Inca princess. Although he was educated as a gentleman of Spain and won an important place in Spanish letters, Garcilaso was fiercely proud of his Indian ancestry and wrote under the name EI Inca. Royal Commentaries of the Incas is the account of the origin, growth, and destruction of the Inca empire, from its legendary birth until the death in 1572 of its last independent ruler. For the material in Part One of Royal Commentaries—the history of the Inca civilization prior to the arrival of the Spaniards—Garcilaso drew upon "what I often heard as a child from the lips of my mother and her brothers and uncles and other elders . . . [of] the origin of the Inca kings, their greatness, the grandeur of their empire, their deeds and conquests, their government in peace and war, and the laws they ordained so greatly to the advantage of their vassals." The conventionalized and formal history of an oral tradition, Royal Commentaries describes the gradual imposition of order and civilization upon a primitive and barbaric world. To this Garcilaso adds facts about the geography and the flora and fauna of the land; the folk practices, religion, and superstitions; the agricultural and the architectural and engineering achievements of the people; and a variety of other information drawn from his rich store of traditional knowledge, personal observation, or speculative philosophy. Important though it is as history, Garcilaso's classic is much more: it is also a work of art. Its gracious and graceful style, skillfully translated by Harold V. Livermore, succeeds in bringing to life for the reader a genuine work of literature. Part One covers the history of the Incas up to the arrival of the Spanish.

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The Alhambra is one of the most famous archaeological sites worldwide, yet knowledge of it remains very partial, focussing on the medieval palaces. This book addresses that imbalance, examining the adjacent urban and industrial zone. The Alhambra is one of the most famous archaeological sites worldwide, yet knowledge of the complex remains very partial, focussing on its medieval Nasrid palaces. Other aspects of the site are virtually unknown, not only to the general public but to archaeologists and historians as well. The Royal Workshops of the Almambra addresses this imbalance, examining the urban and industrial zone adjacent to the palaces. Once the most densely populated and extensive area of the complex, this zone, the Secano, contained houses, tanneries, and workshops including a considerable number of pyrotechnological facilities for the production of metal, glass and ceramic items. Presenting the results of the Royal Workshops of the Alhambra (UNESCO World Heritage Site) project, the book gives a much-needed insight into the industrial sector of the Alhambra. Crucially, the project focusses on the early modern era, when the manufacture of ceramic, glass and metal actually reached their peak. The opening chapters set the archaeological work and the Secano in context and discuss the methodology for archaeological investigation of pyrotechnological activity; while further chapters present the results of the research. Drawing on both traditional and ground-breaking survey and excavation techniques, the book provides an invaluable wide-lens picture of the palatial city.

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For the better part of the Queen Marie Antoinette's reign over France, one man was entrusted with the sole responsibility of ensuring that her coiffure was at its most ostentatious best. Marie Antoinette's Head tells the story of Leonard Autie, Marie Antoinette's hairdresser and confidante, the man responsible for the style that made her the envy of France and for the uproar that dragged her to the guillotine.

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Queen Alexandra used clothes to fashion images of herself as a wife, a mother and a royal: a woman who both led Britain alongside her husband Edward VII and lived her life through fashion. Inside the Royal Wardrobe overturns the popular portrait of a vapid and neglected queen, examining the surviving garments of Alexandra, Princess of Wales – who later became Queen Consort – to unlock a rich tapestry of royal dress and society in the second half of the 19th century. More than 130 extraordinary garments from Alexandra’s wardrobe survive, from sumptuous court dress and politicised fancy dress to mourning attire and elegant coronation gowns, and can be found in various collections around the world, from London, Oslo and Denmark to New York, Toronto and Tokyo. Curator and fashion scholar Kate Strasdin places these garments at the heart of this in-depth study, examining their relationships to issues such as body politics, power, celebrity, social identity and performance, and interpreting Alexandra’s world from the objects out. Adopting an object-based methodology, the book features a range of original sources from letters, travel journals and newspaper editorials, to wardrobe accounts, memoirs, tailors’ ledgers and business records. Revealing a shrewd and socially aware woman attuned to the popular power of royal dress, the work will appeal to students and scholars of costume, fashion and dress history, as well as of material culture and 19th century history.

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At the outset of World War II, Scapa Flow was supposed to be the safe home base of the British Navy – nothing could penetrate the defences of this bastion. So how, in the dead of night, was Gunther Prien's U-47 able to slip through the line of protective warships to sink the mighty Royal Oak? This book provides the answer with an account of one of the most daring naval raids in history. Drawing on the latest underwater archaeological research, this study explains how Prien and his crew navigated the North Sea and Kirk Sound to land a devastating blow to the British. It reveals the level of disrepair that Scapa Flow had fallen into, and delves into the conspiracy theories surrounding the event, including an alleged cover-up by the then First Sea Lord, Winston Churchill.

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‘A vivid account of a forgotten chapter of British naval history.’ Dan Snow, Historian, TV Presenter and Broadcaster The true story of one of the most notorious mutinies in naval history, which provided inspiration for Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey–Maturin and C.S. Forester’s Hornblower novels. In 1797 the 32-gun Royal Navy frigate HMS Hermione was serving in the Caribbean, at the forefront of Britain’s bitter sea war against Spain and Revolutionary France. Its commander, the sadistic and mercurial Captain Hugh Pigot ruled through terror, flogging his men mercilessly and pushing them beyond the limits of human endurance. On the night of 21 September 1797, past breaking point and drunk on stolen rum, the crew rebelled, slaughtering Pigot and nine of his officers in the bloodiest mutiny in the history of the Royal Navy. Handing the ship over to the Spanish, the crew fled, sparking a manhunt that would last a decade. Seeking to wipe clean this stain on its name, the Royal Navy pursued the traitorous mutineers relentlessly, hunting them across the globe, and, in 1801, seized the chance to recover its lost ship in one of the most daring raids of the Age of Fighting Sail. Anchored in a heavily fortified Venezuelan harbour, the Hermione – now known as the Santa Cecilia – was retaken in a bold night-time action, stolen out from under the Spanish guns. Back in British hands, the Hermione was renamed once more – its new identity a stark warning to would-be mutineers: Retribution. Drawing on letters, reports, ships’ logs, and memoirs of the period, as well as previously unpublished Spanish sources, Angus Konstam intertwines extensive research with a fast-paced but balanced account to create a fascinating retelling of one of the most notorious events in the history of the Royal Navy, and its extraordinary, wide-ranging aftermath.

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In 2016 was het tweehonderd jaar geleden dat de Brusselse Academie, na in de Franse Tijd te zijn afgeschaft, werd heropgericht. De Académie royale de Belgique (ARB) en de Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België (KVAB) wilden deze verjaardag niet onopgemerkt voorbij laten gaan. Dit boek is er het resultaat van: een reeks studies waarin de werking en betekenis van de Brusselse Academie in de tijd van het Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden voor het eerst worden belicht. Hier wordt de wereld van de Zuidelijke geleerden in de jaren 1816-1830, maar ook bij de regimewisseling na de `Belgische Revolutie’, in haar volle breedte verkend. De restauratie van de oude `Theresiaanse’ Academie, de politieke en sociale kaders waarin zij onder Willem I functioneerde, de rol die zij speelde in de integratie van de beide rijksdelen van het `Verenigd Koninkrijk’, de wijze waarop haar leden werden gerekruteerd: het zijn aspecten van een institutionele biografie die nooit eerder in het onderzoek aan bod kwamen. Maar er is natuurlijk ook de wetenschapsbeoefening. Van de wiskunde en de natuurwetenschappen over de sociale fysica tot de geschiedschrijving en de studie van de taal: de Zuidelijke geleerden exploreerden, zo illustreert deze bundel, vele terreinen. Het beeld dat uit dit boek oprijst, is dat van een echt Europees fenomeen: een Academie die naar Frans model een staatsinstituut was en zich tegelijk naar Engels voorbeeld een social club toonde. Deux cents ans s’étaient écoulés en 2016 depuis le rétablissement de l’Académie de Bruxelles, qui avait été supprimée pendant la période Française. L’Académie royale de Belgique (ARB) et la Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België (KVAB) n’ont pas souhaité qu’un tel anniversaire passât inaperçu. Le présent livre est donc le résultat de cette volonté: il offre une série d’études dans lesquelles le fonctionnement et l’importance de l’Académie de Bruxelles durant la période du Royaume des Pays-Bas sont pour la première fois mis en lumière. Le monde des érudits des Pays-Bas du Sud, dans les années 1816-1830 mais également lors du changement de régime après la révolution belge, y est amplement étudié. Le rétablissement de l’ancienne Académie thérésienne, les contextes politiques et sociaux dans lesquelles elle a fonctionné sous Guillaume Ier, le rôle qu’elle a joué pour l’intégration des deux parties du `Royaume Uni’, la manière dont ses membres ont été recrutés, tels sont les aspects d’une biographie institutionnelle qui jusqu’alors dans la recherche n’étaient jamais entrés en ligne de compte. Mais la pratique scientifique également y est présente. Des mathématiques et des sciences naturelles à la physique sociale jusqu’à l’historiographie et l’étude de la langue, les érudits du Sud ont exploré de nombreux terrains ainsi que le volume l’illustre. L’image qui ressort de l’ouvrage est celle d’un phénomène véritablement européen: une Académie qui suivant le modèle français se trouvait être une institution d’Etat et qui au même moment se montrait selon l’exemple anglais sous le vrai jour d’un social club.

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Among hundreds of thousands of ancient graves and tombs excavated to date in China, the Mancheng site stands out for its unparalleled complexity and richness. It features juxtaposed burials of the first king and queen of the Zhongshan kingdom (dated late second century BCE). The male tomb occupant, King Liu Sheng (d. 113 BCE), was sent by his father, Emperor Jing (r. 157–141 BCE), to rule the Zhongshan kingdom near the northern frontier of the Western Han Empire, neighboring the nomadic Xiongnu confederation.Modeling Peace interprets Western Han royal burial as a political ideology by closely reading the architecture and funerary content of this site and situating it in the historical context of imperialization in Western Han China. Through a study of both the archaeological materials and related received and excavated texts, Jie Shi demonstrates that the Mancheng site was planned and designed as a unity of religious, gender, and intercultural concerns. The site was built under the supervision of the future occupants of the royal tomb, who used these burials to assert their political ideology based on Huang-Lao and Confucian thought: a good ruler is one who pacifies himself, his family, and his country. This book is the first scholarly monograph on an undisturbed and fully excavated early Chinese royal burial site.

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"An adventure story of daring and courage, superbly researched and written, and immensely rewarding to read." ~ Simon Heffer Four Empires were extinguished by the Great War 1914-18 - the Ottoman, German, Russian and Austro-Hungarian. This is the story of the rescue of one of these Imperial families - the Habsburgs, who might well have suffered the fate of the Romanovs without the intervention of one British officer sent in secret by King George V of England. In January 1919, Lt. Colonel Edward Lisle Strutt, laden with medals and decorations, was on his way home from the Eastern Front when he was waylaid and ordered to Austria. He was irate when he learned the nature of his mission and tried to refuse. How could they ask him to give aid to the enemy he had just spend four miserable years fighting? To his great surprise he was to change his mind when he met and became enthralled by Zita Empress of Austria-Hungary. Thereafter, he was hers to command despite the danger to his life and career. Fortunately for us he kept a diary of the next three months which was lodged in the Royal archive at Windsor where it lay forgotten for the next 70 years. This is one of the great adventure stories of the Great War and Col. Strutt deserves to be better known.

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In 1901 Australia's fledgling Federal Government assumed the responsibility for the new nation's defence. Their first task was to take the aged and obsolete remnants of the colonies' navies and create a national navy to defend our island's coastal waters and overseas trade routes. For the first 40 years the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) was designed to serve alongside the Royal Navy, and resembled it in everything but scale. After the Second World War the RAN developed along US lines but, despite these overseas ties, the RAN has developed its own proud character and tradition and has entered the twenty-first century as a confident and independent force in its own right.In No Pleasure Cruise, Australia's best-known naval historian, Dr Tom Frame, charts the RAN's emergence as one of the world's strongest and most respected navies, and its evolving relationship with the Australian public, press and parliament.

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British Commando George Thomsen's action-filled account of combat during the Falklands War. Seen through the eyes of Section Commander George Thomsen, this inspiring first-hand account, tells of the tension-packed lead up, and the heroic stand, by a tiny band of brothers on one of the most inhospitable islands on the planet - South Georgia. They fought alone - besieged, isolated, and against an overwhelming invasion force - and yet had the enemy reeling on the ropes. This is the story of true British grit, sheer bloody-mindedness, professionalism and ingenuity. The Royal Marines' courageous action on that extraordinary day changed the balance of the South Atlantic war. This was a modern-day Rorke's Drift when world events literally took too few too far. Twenty-five years after these events took place, this is George Thomsen's true story, as told to Malcolm Angel.

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Decorate royal icing cookies like a pro with 83 cookie designs and 45+ techniques, including piping lettering and details, adding creative texture, and combining stunning colours and layers.

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A saga of exceptional valour in World War II by Australian volunteers in the Royal Navy. Their service was diverse and dangerous, in the Battle of the Atlantic; the Arctic convoys to Murmansk in Russia; mine-clearance, covert sorties, Combined Operations in the Mediterranean and Normandy, and SE Asia. Recruited under the Dominion Yachtsmen Scheme, the Yachties war service in the Northern Hemisphere was as diverse as it was dangerous.

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This is the first time that many of these bindings have been shown and photographed Features specialist writers from the UK, France and Spain The exhibition that this book accompanied, took place in April 2012, bringing together two hundred and fifty bound volumes selected from Spain's National Heritage collections, making up an exceptional and unrepeatable exhibition of these astonishing works of art. These are works that were created for the monarch's own use, beginning in the days of Charles V and Philip II, offering us a marvellous insight into the Royal Libraries of the House of Hapsburg and the House of Bourbon. We also come across items from a number of extraordinary complete collections that were treasured by conspicuous patrons and ending up by enriching the King's library, thus endowing the Crown with the enormous intellectual prestige enjoyed by their owners for having gathered together such works. Contents: La encuadernacion, lenguaje artistico - Victor Nieto Alcalde Lo humilde entre lo egregio - Carlos Claveria Claves evolutivas de la encuadernacion heraldica de Patrimonio Nacional Valentin - Moreno Gallego Libros para leer. Encuadernaciones comerciales en pergamino y papel en la epoca de la imprenta manual - Nicholas Pickwoad Diego Hurtado de Mendoza - Anthony Hobson Tres aspectos de la encuadernacion francesa en las colecciones patrimoniales - Isabelle De Conihout and Pascal Ract-Madoux Encuadernaciones bodonianas - Pedro Catedra Eadem sed aliter: uniformidad y singularidad en la encuadernacion de Camara - Maria Luisa Lopez-Vidriero De la industria al arte. Dos cambios de siglo en la encuadernacion de la Real Biblioteca - Dolores Baldo Bibliografia tematica de la encuadernacion en Espana (siglos xix-xxi): historiografia de sus estudios contemporaneos Concha Lois

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To save her home, she faces a difficult choice.When Rose Hamilton’s mother died in childbirth, her father, a farmer on the royal Sandringham estate, turned his back on the daughter whose birth killed his beloved wife. Rose’s one joy is Orchards, her father’s beloved farm. When he collapses, it is left to Rose to manage their land and do battle with their landlord Bertie, the lecherous Prince of Wales, who quickly turns vindictive. Faced with more family tragedy, Rose is left with a choice to make – either she must marry in order to stay on at Orchards, or leave the farm.Reliable Basil Pooley has been in love with Rose for years, though Rose has never returned his feelings. But Geoffrey Devlin, a man she has both loved and hated in equal measure since she was a girl, is an impossibility. Will she be forced into a marriage with somebody she does not love, or can she find a way to save her beloved home?An engaging saga set in Victorian Norfolk, perfect for fans of Rosie Harris and Iris Gower.

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From a small design team working on the Silver Spirit/Mulsanne, to becoming Chief Stylist, Graham Hull peels back the curtain on an idiosyncratic institution during his time at Crewe. Throwing light on a factory motivated as much by pride as the bottom-line, all of the projects - whether production, special commission, or aborted designs - are covered, and the often unique styling process is explored. This process was a key element in the resurgence of the dormant Bentley marque, that, with its fortunes on the rise, became the star of the Geneva Motor Show, attracting commissions from wealthy enthusiasts for totally bespoke vehicles. Founding fathers Royce and Rolls melded engineering with marketing, but as marketing took over, this union fractured. The drama of how this British institution was divided between BMW and VW, and how aesthetic design, never cherished by British management, was increasingly recognised, is fundamental to the story. The bewildering number of projects during the 1990s is a genuine eye-opener and a phenomena that demanded unique people, skills, and facilities.

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As the daughter and cousin of queens and the granddaughter and niece of kings, Lady Margaret Douglas was an integral part of the Tudor royal dynasty. A favourite of her uncle King Henry VIII and a close friend of Queen Mary I she courted scandal which saw her imprisoned in the Tower of London on more than one occasion. Against the orders of Queen Elizabeth I she plotted the marriage of her eldest son Lord Darnley to Mary, Queen of Scots with disastrous consequences. She came as close to the executioners block as she did to the throne of England, with some believing she had a right to be queen. A devout Catholic all her life, she lived at a time when religious division split the country in half yet she remained steadfast in her beliefs. A respected and revered lady on both sides of the border, Lady Margaret Douglas, later Countess of Lennox through her marriage, suffered much heartbreak and loss. Her husband and son were both murdered at the hands of the Scots and she outlived all her children. Despite these tragedies she never gave up on her dream of uniting the thrones of England and Scotland which was realised through her grandson King James VI/I. The story of her life is a remarkable tale of intrigue and survival and deserves to be more widely told.

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Why do Brits call their flag a "Jack"? How did the leek become a symbol of Wales? Does the Tube run 24/7? Who was the Widow of Windsor? Can you take part in a coronation? What was a Greenwood marriage? Was the Giant's Causeway built by an Irish giant? Which British literary figures won the Nobel Prize for Literature? How can you register a record in the Guinness Book of Records? What is the emergency phone number in the UK?Providing well-organised material on the UK's history, geography, literature, royalty and society, Diana Cordea's ""BRITAIN REVEALED"" is a condensed and easy to read book about all things British. It is an excellent user-friendly reference for prospective visitors to the UK, Anglophiles, or readers wishing to know and understand popular British culture.Most importantly, Britain Revealed is aimed at teachers of English as a foreign language, who wish to make their English and optional classes more exciting. The plethora of information provided in this comprehensive teaching aid can be adapted to various levels of language proficiency and can be used in various classroom activities. Focusing on essential questions concerning British culture and civilisation, this volume is also attractive to learners, who will thus have the opportunity of brushing up on their English in a versatile and practical way.

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Kew: Golden Age of Botanical Art brings together the stories of the intrepid explorers - some of whom became botanical artists by default - and the many professional artists who recorded the flora that they discovered on their travels and expeditions. From some of the earliest attempts at art to the plant hunters of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the images produced in the study of plants have held a fascination for all those who love nature. Truly global in its scope, this beautifully illustrated book moves across centuries and continents looking at the artistry of China and India, delving into the sketchbooks of explorers in the Himalayas and following the voyages of those who discovered new worlds and new species as far apart as Russia and South America. Alongside special features on key figures in the botanical art world, Kew: Golden Age of Botanical Art highlights the work of some of the great names of botanical art, including Ehret and Bauer. Included within is a host of rarely published and previously unpublished images from the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew, as well as an outline on how what might have been a pastime for some also made a significant contribution to our understanding of the world and the glories of nature.

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Poised to become the dominant Asia-Pacific power, China yet remains an elusive international player. In this timely text, Denny Roy shows how the drive for security and power underlying Chinese foreign policy is reinforced by other important factors, including China's internal political struggles and unique, historically driven perceptions of international affairs. Providing a wide-ranging assessment of China's foreign policy, the author explores the PRC's relationships with key international organizations and countries, including the United States, Japan, Russia, Korea, India, and the Southeast Asian states. Roy also examines the broad implications of Beijing's outward orientation: its increasing economic interdependence with foreign consumers and suppliers, its struggle to cope with the challenges of globalization, and the People's Liberation Army's aspiration to build China into a world-class military power. The author concludes by analyzing the possibility of a "China threat" to the Asia-Pacific region and identifying key issues that will influence the future direction of Chinese foreign policy.

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A history of the extraordinary society that has touched all aspects of British lifeFrom its beginnings in a coffee house in the mid-eighteenth century, the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce has tried to improve British life in every way imaginable. It has sought to influence how Britons work, how they are educated, the music they listen to, the food they eat, the items in their homes, and even how they remember their own history. Arts and Minds is the remarkable story of an institution unlike any other—a society for the improvement of everything and anything.Drawing on exclusive access to a wealth of rare papers and artefacts from the Society's own archives, Anton Howes shows how this vibrant and singularly ambitious organisation has evolved and adapted, constantly having to reinvent itself to keep in step with changing times. The Society has served as a platform for Victorian utilitarian reformers, purchased and restored an entire village, encouraged the planting of more than sixty million trees, and sought technological alternatives to child labour. But this is more than just a story about unusual public initiatives. It is an engaging and authoritative history of almost three centuries of social reform and competing visions of a better world—the Society's members have been drawn from across the political spectrum, including Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, and Karl Marx.Informative and entertaining, Arts and Minds reveals how a society of public-spirited individuals tried to make their country a better place, and draws vital lessons from their triumphs and failures for all would-be reformers today.

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The Royal Library of Belgium in Brussels houses the largest collection of drawings in the country. Among its highlights are works by leading artists of the Low Countries, including Pieter Bruegel I, Joris Hoefnagel, Hendrick Goltzius, Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, and Jacques Jordaens. As the library’s collection has been little studied up to now, it is largely unknown to scholars and the general public. To acquaint a wider audience with these important works of art, this richly illustrated publication brings together for the first time over one hundred master drawings from the Royal Library’s vaults. Not only new art-historical insights are presented, but also numerous rediscovered drawings and revised attributions to artists such as Maarten van Heemskerck and Karel van Mander. This carefully researched book, written by thirty specialists in the field, aims to make a significant contribution to our knowledge of the history of Netherlandish drawing from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries.Distributed for Hannibal Books

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For as long as the British monarchy has existed, royal children have been brought up in ways that seem bizarre and eccentric to the rest of us. From medieval wet nurses to today's Norland nannies and elite boarding schools, princes and princesses have endured parental abandonment for centuries as their parents farmed out childrearing duties to paid staff. And as this marvellous romp of a book demonstrates, dysfunctional childhood experiences produce emotionally damaged adults, as evidenced by Edward VIII - who was horribly mistreated by his nanny - and his marriage to his substitute mother figure, Mrs Simpson; by alcoholic party girl Princess Margaret; and by rebellious Harry and his desperate desire to adopt Meghan Markle's world view, to the detriment of his relationship with his brother. Interweaving exclusive testimonies from palace staff with historical sources, Tom Quinn also uncovers outrageous tales of royal children misbehaving, often hilariously - from Edward VII smashing up his schoolroom to the Queen mischievously pranking unsuspecting visitors with dog biscuits to Prince William pinching a teacher's bottom. Amusing and shocking in equal measure, Gilded Youth examines how the royal family has clung to outmoded traditions that centre on emotional coldness and detachment, and how, when it comes to children, the British royal family is still living in the Dark Ages.

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The story of poison is the story of power... For centuries, royal families have feared the gut-roiling, vomit-inducing agony of a little something added to their food or wine by an enemy. To avoid poison, they depended on tasters, unicorn horns and antidotes tested on condemned prisoners. Servants licked the royal family’s spoons, tried on their underpants and tested their chamber pots. Ironically, royals terrified of poison were unknowingly poisoning themselves daily with their cosmetics, medications and filthy living conditions. Women wore makeup made with lead. Men rubbed feces on their bald spots. Physicians prescribed mercury enemas, arsenic skin cream, drinks of lead filings and potions of human fat and skull, fresh from the executioner. Gazing at gorgeous portraits of centuries past, we don’t see what lies beneath the royal robes and the stench of unwashed bodies; the lice feasting on private parts; and worms nesting in the intestines. The Royal Art of Poison is a hugely entertaining work of popular history that traces the use of poison as a political - and cosmetic - tool in the royal courts of Western Europe from the Middle Ages to the Kremlin today.

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TEST YOUR BATTLE ROYALE BRAIN! Fancy facing a full-on Fortnite trivia test? If you're clued up on Outfits, emotes, seasons, LTMs, locations, weapons, and everything else Battle Royale-related, then the Official Fortnite: The Ultimate Trivia Book is perfect for you! The 350 questions are split into Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, and Legendary sections to push you to the limit. Accept the challenge, because it's time to take your Fortnite trivia knowledge to the next level. The vast range of exciting multiple-choice and visual questions will have you scratching your head, but whether you're an experienced Battle Royaler or new to the island, you can take on the quiz quest and see what you score. Your Fortnite trivia test starts here - good luck!

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Behind the scenes of the private world at the heart of royalty, as revealed by a distinguished royal commentator. This is the real story of what goes on inside the royal palaces, as witnessed by members of the royal staff and household past and present. Buckingham Palace is effectively an independent kingdom with its own rules and customs, now explained by Brian Hoey. Hundreds of anecdotes reveal the conditions in which the staff live and work and also their relationship with the Royals they serve. How does one get a job as personal footman to the Queen? Why does Prince Charles still have to send a note to her Page of the Backstairs requesting a meeting with his mother? How much do members of the household earn? Why does the Queen hate men in three-piece suits? Why are the Queen’s bedsheets six inches longer than Prince Philip’s? Why do her maids have to vacuum walking backwards? Why doesn’t the Queen allow square ice-cubes to be put in her drinks?

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On 16 March 1807, the British Parliament passed The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. In the following year the Royal Navy's African Squadron was formed, its mission to stop and search ships at sea suspected of carrying slaves from Africa to the Americas and the Middle East. With typical thoroughness, the Royal Navy went further, and took the fight to the enemy, sailing boldly up uncharted rivers and creeks to attack the barracoon's where the slaves were assembled ready for shipment. For much of its long campaign against the evil of slavery Britain's Navy fought alone and unrecognised. Its enemies were many and formidable. Ranged against it were the African chiefs, who sold their own people into slavery, the Arabs, who rode shotgun on the slave caravans to the coast, and the slave ships of the rest of the world, heavily armed, and prepared to do battle to protect their right to traffic in the forbidden black ivory. The war was long and bitter and the cost to the Royal Navy in ships and men heavy, but the result was worthy of the sacrifices made. The abolition of the slave trade led to a scramble for empires and, in place of slaves, Africa began to export cocoa, coffee, timber, palm oil, cotton and ores, all very much in demand in the West.

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The Campaigns and History of the Royal Irish Regiment 1684-1902 by Lt. Col G. Le M. Gretton is the complete military history of the Royal Irish Regiment from the late 17th century to the early 20th century.

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This study examines the ritual space of nineteenth-century royal tours of empire and the diverse array of historical actors who participated in them. It suggests that the varied responses to the royal tours of the nineteenth century demonstrate how a multi-centred British imperial culture was forged in the empire and was constantly made and remade, appropriated and contested. In this context, subjects of empire provincialised the British Isles, centring the colonies in their political and cultural constructions of empire, Britishness, citizenship and loyalty.

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Against the odds, monarchies flourished in nineteenth-century Europe. In an era marked by dramatic change and revolutionary upheaval, Europe's monarchies experienced an unexpected late flowering. Royal Heirs focuses on the roles and personalities of the heirs to the throne from more than a dozen different dynasties that ruled the continent between the French Revolution and the end of the First World War. The book explores how these individuals contributed to the remarkable survival of the crowns they were born to wear. Constitutions, family relationships, education, politics, the media, the need to generate 'soft power' and the militarisation of monarchy all shaped the lives of princes and princesses while they were playing their part to embody and secure the future of monarchy. Ranging from Norway to Spain and from Greece to Britain, Royal Heirs not only paints a vivid picture of a monarchical age, but also explores how such disparate monarchies succeeded in adapting to change and defending their position.

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This manual is a complete guide to the diagnosis and management of ocular disorders and diseases. Divided into 35 sections, further divided by sub-specialty, the book presents more than 1000 common and uncommon conditions. Each disorder is systematically arranged in a consistent format, beginning with a brief description, followed by clinical observation, laboratory diagnosis, and treatment. Drug dosage and administration are discussed in depth and each disorder concludes with a bibliography for further reading. Disorders are listed alphabetically for quick reference, and can be searched either by anatomical region or by classification of the disorder. Written by internationally recognised Frederick Hampton Roy, and co-author, Renee Tindall, both from Hampton Roy Eyecare, Arkansas; this comprehensive book includes numerous clinical photographs, diagrams and tables, to enhance learning. Key points Guide to diagnosis and management of more than 1000 ocular diseases and disorders Disorders listed alphabetically and searchable anatomically or by classification Bibliography included for each disorder for further reading Authored by internationally recognised US-based specialists

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