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Charles Dickens was a phenomenon: a demonicly hardworking journalist, the father of ten children, a tireless walker and traveller, a supporter of liberal social causes, but most of all a great novelist - the creator of characters who live immortally in the English imagination: the Artful Dodger, Mr Pickwick, Pip, David Copperfield, Little Nell, Lady Dedlock and many more. At the age of twelve he was sent to work in a blacking factory by his affectionate but feckless parents. From these unpromising beginnings, he rose to scale all the social and literary heights, entirely through his own efforts. When he died, the world mourned, and he was buried - against his wishes - in Westminster Abbey. Yet the brilliance concealed a divided character: a republican, he disliked America; sentimental about the family in his writings, he took up passionately with a young actress; usually generous, he cut off his impecunious children. This pictorial history will shed a new and alternative light on this literary giant.

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Wakefield, the capital of the former West Riding of Yorkshire, has a long and distinguished past. It came to prominence as a centre for the cloth trade in the latter half of the 15th century, the trade in cloth becoming a major part of the town's economy until recent years. By 1880, Wakefield as a town had expanded and gained many new institutions built on the wealth of the cloth trade, coal mining and heavy industry. Changing Wakefield presents a glimpse into what the townscape of Wakefield was like at the close of the 19th century and compares it to the modern cityscape that has constantly changed and evolved since 1880. Important buildings in today's cityscape are looked at in depth with concise histories of the buildings and the people that built or lived in these notable landmarks. This fascinating historical time capsule also presents rare images and histories of many of the lost architectural treasures of Wakefield.

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This collection of archive images, many never before published, documents life in the ancient Shropshire market town of Wellington between two World Wars. Entertaining and informative, this book reveals how the people of Wellington recovered from the effects of one devastating war before they were obliged to make preparations for coping with another. It shows long-established industries continuing to survive during the interwar period, and an abundance of family run shops helping to retain the traditional character of the town, then the main centre for commerce and entertainment in this part of the county. New forms of public and private transport brought immediate change, while local Councils embraced developments required for new national legislation and prepared the way for poorly conceived town plans which would later blight the economic landscape. Throughout this period of change, Wellingtonians displayed remarkable resilience. The Great War had been regarded as 'the war to end all wars', and it was with this belief that a rise in population occurred, schools thrived and a wide range of sporting and cultural events blossomed.By 1939, many folk had money to spare on dances, theatre visits and other pastimes. Then another period of austerity and heartbreak began.

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London's Lost Battlefields hides the ghosts of bloodshed and rebellion from Boudicca to the devastating but little known Zeppelin attacks of the First World War. The Peasant's Revolt of 1381 saw murder and plunder in central London, notably at The Savoy, where the present day hotel is located laid claim to thirty-two rebels who whilst drinking wine in the cellar were trapped by fire and falling masonry and over several days died there. St Albans was the site of two vicious battles during the Wars of the Roses where an eyewitness said that the market place ran with blood. One of the bloodiest battles of the Wars of the Roses took place just north of Barnet. Under a nearby field lie the bodies of between 3,000 and 4,000 forgotten soldiers of the Wars of the Roses. This book suggests the location. The Wyatt Rebellion in 1544 saw London streets again awash with blood and gallows set up all over London by Queen 'Bloody' Mary to take her revenge. 1642 saw two London English Civil Wars battles at Brentford and Turnham Green. Many fleeing Parliamentarian soldiers jumped into the Thames at Brentford and drowned. Some were buried anonymously on Hounslow Heath. Parts of central London still bear the shrapnel marks and memorials relating to Zeppelin attacks that killed 200 Londoners and injured many more. London's Lost Battlefields tells you where you will find them.

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Prior to the nationalisation of the railways in 1948, Britain's rail network was operated almost exclusively by four private companies. The 'Big Four' as they were called - the Great Western, the Southern, the London Midland & Scottish and the London & North Eastern - were not only nationalised in 1948, but consolidated into one large concern: British Railways. Each of the Big Four had built up its own system of working in its own geographic area with its own rolling stock, staff and livery. Thus, BR inherited a diverse mix, not only of physical plant, but of traditions and loyalties developed over generations. Additionally, management had to grapple with many and varied constraints in its desire to improve efficiency and create a nationally recognisable system. Also, cash was in short supply and much of the existing equipment was old, run down and in urgent need of attention. Further, all the major railway companies had a large number of restrictions as to which engines and stock could go where, even on their own system. Axle loading was often the deciding consideration and this governed which engine types could run on specific lines over which bridges and at what speed. For example, LNER Pacifics were banned entirely from East Anglia. Also, loading gauges differed on the national infrastructure. All these considerations impinged on BR's desire to introduce a modern range of steam engines of its own, so that these would have the widest route availability. This, by and large, they successfully achieved, though in later years even the new BR diesels had more restrictions placed upon them than was originally envisaged. The Unusual and the Unexpected on British Railways: A Chronology of Unlikely Events 1948-1968 is an assiduous and personal trawl on how BR overcome such engineering incompatibilities and bureaucratic confusion on a national scale. This engaging tribute is a historical and rail engineering document, which despite plans and intentions to unite the country with a single operating network, shows how daunting such a restructuring was.

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The Surrender of Napoleon tells the true story of how the legendary French emperor surrendered to the British on HMS Bellerophon and the events between 24 May and 8 August 1815. While HMS Bellerophon was stationed off Rochefort in the Bay of Biscay observing French warships in the harbour, Napoleon has been defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. News had reached Rear Admiral Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland on 28 June that Napoleon was planning an escape to America from the French Atlantic coast, possible from Bordeaux. Believing that Rochefort was the more likely point of escape, Maitland also sent two ships to cover the ports of Bordeaux and Arcachon. With HMS Superb and a string of British frigates, corvettes and brigs watching the coast, there was no escape for Napoleon. Maitland's instincts proved correct and Napoleon arrived at Rochefort in early July. Finding escape barred by the patrolling HMS Bellerophon and unable to remain in France, he authorised the opening of negotiations with the commander of the British warship off the coast. Maitland refused the request to allow Napoleon to sail for America, but offered to take him to England. The negotiations went on for four days, but eventually Napoleon acquiesced. He embarked on 15 July with his staff and servants where he surrendered to Maitland. Maitland placed his cabin at the former emperor's disposal and sailed for England. She reached Torbay on 24 July, but was ordered to Plymouth, while a decision was made by the government over Napoleon's fate. She sailed again on 4 August and while off Berry Head on 7 August, Napoleon and his staff were removed to HMS Northumberland, which conveyed him to his final exile on Saint Helena. The Surrender of Napoleon is Maitland's detailed and stunning narrative of the French emperors time on HMS Bellerophon, which he originally published in 1826.

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A St Helena Who's Who details the island of St Helena and its administration, including military, naval and civil offices as well as the overall population in the 1820s and expenses. A must have for Napoleon historians, this comprehensive book chronicles the residents of Longwood, the 'Who's Who' of St Helena and what flag-ships were stationed there. As well as listing the regiments based on the island such as the 53rd Foot Regiment (2nd Battalion) and artillery and engineers, Napoleon's visitors to the island are recorded as well as the chronology of his death, the construction of his tomb and reports on the post-mortem examination. Also, Sir Hudson Lowe and the East India Company involvement in the island are exhaustively covered as are stories of military figures, marriages and the abolition of slavery.

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After the fall of France and the allied retreat from Dunkirk, Hitler proposed the planned invasion of Great Britain. A secret aerial reconnaissance of the United Kingdom (and all of Europe) had been undertaken by the Luftwaffe several years prior to the outbreak of war. The images were used in the detailed planning for the invasion of the United Kingdom. After the collapse of the Third Reich the great race began to salvage the secrets of Hitler's huge intelligence gathering operation. The RAF and Army intelligence scoured the remains of the Reich desperately searching for the library of the "Zentral Archiv Der Fliegerfilm." The Luftwaffe archive was of extreme value both to the West and the newly emerging super power of the Communist Soviet Union, under the dictatorship of Stalin. One power held the secrets of both and competing Soviet and Allied intelligence searched disparately the debris of the Third Reich for aerial library. In June 1945 a British intelligence unit stumble upon 16 tonnes of reconnaissance pictures, dumped in a barn, at "Bad Reichenhall" deep in the forests of Bavaria.The original Luftwaffe reconnaissance archive had been destroyed at the end of the war, and this discovery was an incomplete German Army Intelligence copy. With great secrecy the documents were immediately evacuated back to England and by July 1945 twenty-three plane loads of documents had been removed from the chaos of Germany, to a special RAF intelligence clearing house at Medmenham. The entire archive was methodically recorded, sorted and classified as top secret and disappeared from public view. There were no announcements and very few were aware of this major discovery and the archive was locked away in a secure vault with access classified and restricted to the intelligence services. The records discovered by the allies remained classified till 1984 although parts of this vast archive escaped into the packs and luggage of returning soldiers, as souvenirs. It is from this source that Nigel Clarke slowly acquired images and amassed a collection of over 1000 pictures of the UK taken by the Luftwaffe.

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The Holy Grail and Holy Thorn explores the legends of King Arthur and Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury and how their influence has been felt from medieval to modern times. Joseph was said to have built at Glastonbury the first church in Christendom, which made it a center of medieval pilgrimage, and gave Glastonbury an international profile in the fifteenth century. Through the winter-flowering holy thorn, said to have grown from Joseph's staff, and later the Chalice Well, Glastonbury remained a focus of superstition in the Protestant centuries. In medieval romance Joseph of Arimathea had been the first keeper of the Holy Grail, a mystical past that was revived by Romantic writers and artists and ensured that Glastonbury retained a place in our national culture. In the twentieth century Glastonbury's reputation was further elaborated by the belief that Joseph was the great-uncle of Jesus Christ, and that when he first came to Britain he brought the young Jesus with him, an idea suggested by William Blake's Jerusalem. In the same mystical tradition, in the 1960s John Michell saw in Glastonbury the dimensions of New Jerusalem, which proved crucial in making Glastonbury the capital of New Age culture.

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During World War 2, the Merchant Navy's main task was to run the German blockade, bringing essential food, fuel and materials to a besieged nation. The civilian crews came from all parts of the Empire and beyond - more than one in six were killed. Even less is known about the part played by merchantmen in evacuations from countries that were overrun. They saved over 90,000 troops from Dunkirk and went on to rescue more than 200,000 troops and civilians from other parts of France. When Singapore fell, the Merchant Navy again helped many to escape. They moved men and materials for the landings of Madagascar, North Africa and the Mediterranean coast of Europe. A British government press release reported that 50,000 volunteer British merchant seamen manned over 1,000 ships for D-Day. They also manned salvage ships, rescue tugs and other specialist craft. Merchantmen in Action tells the story of these other achievements. Chapters include Singapore; the Norwegian campaign; Dunkirk; the Channel Islands; Greece and Crete; Sicily and Italy; the Normandy landings; the South of France, Gibraltar, etc, with detailed ship listing and human stories.

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"The Luftwaffe - the German Air Force - will no longer have a decisive influence on the outcome of World War II, no matter how long it takes to beat Hitler." It is more than two years since I first heard these words. The man who spoke them to me continued: "No doubt, we will hear of the Luftwaffe before the war is over. We will hear a lot. But don't let us be deceived. No matter what happens, the Luftwaffe can never be used as a strategic first-line weapon within the Nazi plan. It can play no role but that of a tactical and auxiliary weapon." Curt Reiss, December 1943. Can it really be true that in 1941 insiders knew the Luftwaffe was a spent force; and a failed organization? This remarkable, but little-known book was written in 1943 and published in 1944. It argues, with remarkable clarity how incompetence at the highest level, both in planning and strategy led the Luftwaffe - pushed by the Nazi Party - to adopt a policy that left it hopelessly stretched and exposed. Little known facts shine out - such as the policy of failing to produce spares led the Luftwaffe to lose 2,500 aircraft during the invasion of Poland alone. The regime designed the Luftwaffe for Blitzkrieg, and Blitzkrieg alone. When a long-haul set in on an eastern front, on an African front and later on a western front, the collapse of Germany became simply inevitable. Crammed full of fascinating detail, and displaying much prescience, this book leaves the reader with the distinct impression that the much-vaunted German efficiency suffered from the dead-hand of the Nazi Party with its corruption and its contradictions. The insights into Goering and his wholesale thefts to fund a lavish life-style add colour to the picture of his incompetence.

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RAF Tempsford, a remote Second World War airfield between Cambridge and Bedford, was designed by an illusionist to give over-flying enemy pilots the impression it was a disused airfield. Home to the RAF's Special Duties Squadrons, it was only used on the clear nights on either side of the full moon. Flying low and without lights, brave pilots and aircrews carried many hundreds of tons of arms and supplies to resistance groups north of the Arctic Circle, east to Czechoslovakia and Poland, southeast to the Balkans and south as far as the Pyrenees and Italy. 'The Tempsford Academy' tells the story of William Stephenson, the man sent by Roosevelt to assess Britain's potential to resist German invasion in 1940, his meeting the men running Britain's secret service and being shown round SOE's training facilities, weapons, R&D sites etc. He persuaded the President to send William Donovan, subsequent head of OSS (what became the CIA), to see how the Americans could establish an intelligence network in London. Offices were set up in London and establishments for the training and deployment of US secret agents into occupied Europe as well as assisting the SOE in supplying the resistance. Until an airfield was built for their clandestine operations, agents were flown out from RAF Tempsford: Churchill's Most Secret Airfield.

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Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Churchill and Stalin secretly agreed that Britain would infiltrate Soviet agents into occupied Western Europe. Liaison began between the NKVD and the SOE, each country's secret service. Transported in convoys across the Arctic Ocean and often attacked by German U-Boats, thirty-four men and women arrived in Scotland. To stop people finding out that Britain was helping the Communists, the agents were given false identities and provided with accommodation and training at remote country houses in southern England, including Beaulieu. Codenamed PICKAXES, they were sent for parachute practice at Ringway aerodrome, provided with documents, cover stories and wireless sets and sent on clandestine missions into France, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Germany and Italy. Whilst most were sent from RAF Tempsford, Churchill's Most Secret airfield, one was sent by boat across the Channel and another by submarine into Northern Italy. Only a few survived the war as most were caught, interrogated and executed. Based on extensive research, Bernard O'Connor tells their human stories enmeshed in a web of political intrigue and diplomacy.

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1939 was a glorious year for Hermann Goering. He spent it entertaining dignitaries visiting the Third Reich, attending galas, going on official visits, giving rousing speeches at factories and military parades, and indulging in his love of fine art, rich cuisine and sumptuous clothes and jewels. Ever vain, pompous and ambitious, in 1939 he attained the summit of his power and popularity when Hitler, speaking to a packed Reich Chancellery on 1 September, named him his successor. Goering's rise was inseparable from that of his Luftwaffe. As commander-in-chief, he basked in the glory of the Condor Legion's victory in Spain in April 1939 and the Luftwaffe's decisive role in the Blitzkrieg of Poland in September. From these encounters, the Luftwaffe emerged as the world's most feared and respected air force-but beyond the trappings of victory, there were deep-seated flaws. Fearing their exposure against a more powerful enemy, Goering did not want Germany to go to war with Great Britain and France. Hermann Goering: From Madrid to Warsaw and Beyond, 1939 is a photographic chronicle of a momentous year in the life of the Luftwaffe's commander-in-chief, showing him at his most happy and self-confident, and equally, at his most anxious about what the future might bring.

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The Allied Operation Mallory Major (northern Italy, July 1944) aimed at the destruction of all bridges across the Po River and its tributaries and at isolating the enemy in the northern Apennine mountains (the Gothic Line). The Allied Air Forces could count on the ground support of the guerrillas from the Great Partisan Pocket (in the Apennines south of Piacenza) and were opposed by the Flak. This army was led by aging German officers and NCOs leading young non-German women and men in Wehrmacht service: the Czech guards (Regierungstruppe), and the Italian, Slovak, Polish and former Soviet gunners (the Wehrmacht had transferred its German young men to front line units). Yet, this improbable Flak force proved to be effective and supported by Luftwaffe aircraft (outnumbered by at least 10 to 1) it faced both a hailstorm of Allied bombs and guerrilla ground attacks. Women played a major role in this campaign. Axis, guerrillas, and Allied intelligence used women to infiltrate the enemy and as auxiliaries, nurses and fighters. Another aspect of this battle was the Hitler-Beneš confrontation, an intelligence-guerrilla war which took place within the ranks of the Regierungstruppe.

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In December 1820, at twenty-one years old, Edward Geoffrey Stanley, the future 14th earl of Derby and three-times prime minister, began an extensive tour of continental Europe. By the time of his return to England twenty months later, he had visited many of the foremost centres for art and culture in Europe, and mostly in Italy. In his travel diaries he recorded his intensive social life, his visits to historical sites, his viewings of art collections, his comments on architecture, his admiration of landscapes and his impressions of foreign societies. He was energetic, enthusiastic and discerning: the bridge of Augustus in Umbria gave him 'a stupendous idea of Roman grandeur'; the charm of the towns crowning the Tuscan hills struck him with the same delight that he felt when gazing at one of Poussin's paintings; the waterfall at Terni, which dropped 370 feet into an abyss of spray, was 'awfully magnificent'; while the ceremonies of the Italian Catholic Church he judged to be a blend of mummery, superstition and bigotry. Sights and experiences like these influenced him for the rest of his life. This precious collection of diaries, found only recently and published here for the first time, reveal Edward Stanley to have been a young man of diligence, courage and decisiveness: a future leader with a conspicuous and burgeoning sense of political and social justice. It was these characteristics, seen in early development within these pages, that shaped the man and the extraordinary career to come.

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The Soviet T-34 medium tank needs no introduction, being the most famous tank ever built especially as has seen service across the globe throughout the twentieth century’s most brutal wars. However, despite this fame, little has been written about its design changes. While most tank enthusiasts can differentiate between the ‘T-34/76’ and the ‘T-34-85’, identifying different factory production batches has proven more elusive. Until now. With nearly six hundred photographs, mostly taken by soldiers who both operated and fought against the T-34, this book seeks to catalogue and contextualise even the subtlest details to create a true ‘T-34 continuum’. The book begins with the antecedents of the T-34, the ill-fated BT ‘fast tank’ series and the influence of the traumatic Spanish Civil War before moving to an in-depth look at the T-34’s prototypes. After this, every factory production change is catalogued and contextualised, with never-before-seen photographs and stunning technical drawings. Furthermore, four battle stories are also integrated to explain the changing battle context when major production changes take place. The production story is completed with sections on the T-34’s post-war production (and modification) by Czechoslovakia, Poland, and the People’s Republic of China, as well as T-34 variants.

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The story of Lady Anne Clifford is one of feminine victory in a man's world, the men including King James I, Charles I, Oliver Cromwell and two husbands: the Earl of Dorset, gambler, womaniser and waster, and the Earl of Pembroke, also gambler, womaniser etc. Lady Anne was the third child of George Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, Elizabeth I’s Royal Champion. Henry VIII was Anne's great-great uncle. From the age of ten, Anne was a highly regarded figure at Elizabeth's Court. Her two brothers died in infancy, leaving her sole heiress, but when father died in 1605 his illegal will left all to his younger brother. Lady Anne (aged 15) objected to the will and, rightfully, claimed the estates herself. Kings, archbishops and husbands spent years trying to persuade her that she, a mere female, should think of the greater good of society as God and men had ordered it, give up her claim, and let the men have what was properly theirs. By shrewd moves, sheer determination and faith, Lady Anne outlasted and defeated the lot of them, restored her castles and became the grande dame of the north.

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For over two centuries Japan had been hidden behind a veil of seclusion. This changed in when Commodore Perry arrived in 1853. Unsurprisingly for a world power, Britain was fast to get in on the action. But unknown to the intruders their sudden appearance had accelerated the pace of political change in Japan. The newcomers found themselves increasingly out of their depth in a power struggle that they did not understand. The Shogun and the Emperor were at each other's throats, factions were jockeying for position, and the foreigners were at the centre of it. Britain's first diplomats found themselves the targets of assassins and to their confusion discovered that the Emperor had no legislative power and the Shogun's word was no longer law. Yet with the lessons of the Opium Wars still in recent memory, a slew of British soldiers, ambassadors, interpreters and adventurers attempted to protect imperial interests in Japan without causing outright war. This is the story of the rocky beginning of Anglo-Japanese relations, a story of the ‘wild east’, full of political schemes, Gunboat diplomacy, assassins and samurai, set in the dying days of the Edo period and the twilight of the last Shogun.

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British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) is situated in Alberta, amidst the dry, semi-barren, rugged and undulating Canadian prairie, where the Blackfoot, Cree and Sioux tribes once hunted buffalo and engaged in combat. The training area measures 39 miles west to east and 32 miles north to south, with a total area of 1038 square miles. It is slightly larger than Luxembourg and seven times the size of Salisbury Plain. The prime purpose of BATUS is to provide realistic all-arms, battle group manoeuvre training with live firing. Four major `Prairie Storm' exercises are held every year between April and October, involving infantry, armour, artillery, aviation and support arms. Up to 2500-3000 personnel may be on the ground, along with as many as 1200 vehicles of all types from Main Battle Tanks to 4x4s. BATUS was formally established in 1972; making up for the loss of training areas in Libya in 1969. Right from the start it was envisaged that there would be an Army Air Corps element. The original aircraft were replaced by Westland AH1 Gazelles in 1977, they continue in service 40 years later with 29 (BATUS) Flight, which is now part of 5 Regiment Army Air Corps.

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Born in Birmingham, Steve Winwood was already a semi-professional musician, playing keyboards and guitar, while still at school. As lead vocalist with The Spencer Davis Group, he had had two chart-topping singles by the time he was aged eighteen. In 1967 he formed Traffic, long noted as one of the major British psychedelic groups whose music also borrowed from jazz and folk influences as well as rock and pop. A brief hiatus saw him join forces with Eric Clapton in the short-lived Blind Faith, thereafter returning to Traffic until they disbanded in 1974 (and briefly reformed twenty years later). Throughout his subsequent solo career, he has been much respected on both sides of the Atlantic as a vocalist, all-round musician and regular collaborator with or session player for other artists. This is the first biography for nearly thirty years.

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The biggest success of the Focke Wulf company during the Second World War was the choice of a radial engine for the Fw 190 fighter, in this way avoiding to compete against Messerschmitt for the in line engines. The decision of the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe to assign the few turbojets available to the Messerschmitt and Arado firms and the discovery of the terrible aerodynamic effect known as compressibility buffeting by mid-1942, made the life of fighter designers of the time very interesting. The Kurt Tank team proposed to install a centrifugal turbojet of his design in the nose of an Fw 190 A/3 with the intention of replacing it with a Jumo 004 B when available in 1943. Several designs followed that were able to use all turbojets, turboprops, ramjets and rocket engines, either projected or at their disposal. They constitute the documental foundation of this book. After failing in the TL Jagdfleugzeug contests in March 1943, Volksflugzeug in September 1944 and Hochleitungs Nachtjäger in January 1945, Focke Wulf could finally overcome its competitors with the great Jägernotprogramm design Ta 183. Although it was too late to intervene in the Second World War, it served as inspiration for numerous designs of other countries during the first years of the Cold War.

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'Stations and Lineside Views in and Around London' features photographs taken by retired British Medical Council researcher/author Dr B. W. L. Brooksbank and captions by railway author Peter Tuffrey. The photographs span the last years of steam traction c. 1946 to c.1962 and the book uses the M25 motorway as a parameter to define the London area. All the capital's main line railway stations belonging to the four former constituent railway companies are featured. Over 3,000 negatives were scanned while only approximately 250 photographs have been selected for inclusion to maintain a very high standard and give a real indication of this last gasp of steam. It is remarkable that when good photographic materials were painfully scarce after the Second World Wat that Ben Brooksbank was able to achieve some exceptional results from limited resources. Some of his images from the late 1940s are not only pin sharp but exude an almost palpable atmosphere of Britain's run-down post-war railways. He has captured freight trains, expresses and local trains along with staff carrying out their mundane duties or blatantly hanging off a locomotive cab eager to be caught on camera forever.Ben has photographed many of the railway stations in a dilapidated condition before massive renovation work.

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Plt Off Oliver Ormrod, better known as 'Sonny' to his RAF compatriots due to his youthful appearance, was just four days past his twentieth birthday when he was killed in action after his Hurricane was shot down. During his brief fighting career at Malta in February to April 1942, he was credited with only two enemy aircraft destroyed, although he shared in the destruction of three others. Ormrod also claimed three 'probables' and at least six damaged. A total of a dozen successes at a time when the Hurricane was completely outclassed by Bf 109Fs of JG53, his bravery and valour were recognised by the award of a DFC. Although extracts from Ormrod's diary have appeared in various publications over the years, the editors/authors now offer the complete story of his brief period of combat in the skies over Malta. He was one of many young lives lost in the effort to safeguard Malta and he was there when only Hurricanes were available to combat the Luftwaffe's onslaught. This is his story...

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Thunderbirds, Stingray, Fireball XL5, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, UFO and Space:1999 just some of the TV series produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson that have thrilled generations of people worldwide from the 1960s right into the 21st Century. As the new series Thunderbirds Are Go! updates the exploits of International Rescue for a new era, Ian Fryer, film historian and editor of Gerry Anderson s official appreciation society magazine, brings an in-depth look into the making of the iconic television shows that inspired it. The background to the making of the Supermarionation series, and the live action science fiction classics that followed, is brought to life along with the turbulent times for British film making in which they were made. A fascinating read for fans of the Anderson puppet and live action series and for anyone interested in film and television history."

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The single-engine Junkers Ju 52 first flew in 1930. Designed and built by the Junkers Aircraft Company of Dessau, Germany, the Ju 52 was originally intended as a cargo aircraft. An upgraded model, the Ju 52/3m, was powered by three engines, excelling as an 18-seat airliner. By the late 1930s, hundreds of the safe and reliable Ju 52/3m were serving with airlines in more than 20 countries, including the prewar British Airways. It was used as a bomber by the reestablished Luftwaffe, particularly in the Spanish Civil War. During the Second World War, the Ju 52/3m was the mainstay of the Luftwaffe transport squadrons. Affectionately known as Faithful Old Annie and Iron Annie, the Ju 52/3m was used during the invasions of Norway, the Low Countries, Crete as well as the resupply of Stalingrad and Rommel s Africa Corps. In all, more than 5,000 were built. After the war, production continued in France and Spain. Amazingly, captured Ju 52/3ms were rebuilt postwar and briefly operated as airliners on domestic routes in Great Britain! Today, about 50 Ju 52/3ms survive, with less than ten flying. The Junkers Ju 52/3m is one of the most significant transport airplanes in the history of aviation."

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As the main interpreter for Adolf Hitler during the key prewar moments, such as the Munich Agreement, the British Declaration of War and the surrender of France, Paul-Otto Schmidt was well placed to record his impressions of events from 1935 up to 1945. He was an interpreter working in the German foreign ministry where he served from 1923 to 1945, and being fluent in English and French he gained respect and was Hitler s usual first choice for the important meetings. During the war years he served as Hitler's interpreter during his meetings with Marshal Philippe Petain and Francisco Franco. After the 1942 Dieppe Raid resulted in thousands of Canadian soldiers captured, Schmidt was in charge of their interrogations. Schmidt s book is helpful in gaining an insight into the minutiae of Third Reich thinking and planning as much as planning went beyond Hitler s will. One classic nugget is from the early morning of 3 September 1939 when Britain issued its ultimatum to Germany, for it was Schmidt who had to hand the translation to Hitler: After an interval which seemed an age, he turned to Ribbentrop, who had remained standing by the window. What now? asked Hitler with a savage look, as though implying that his Foreign Minister had misled him about England s probable reaction. "

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The North Eastern Railway underwent extreme change after the outbreak of war in August 1914. Within months, the company raised its own battalion of men and was the only railway company to do so. The NER also set to work adapting to the changes and requirements the war would bring. Not only would there be a drop in regular passenger traffic levels and increase in freight, transporting both war material and troops, but the workshops formerly used to build locomotives were turned over to making weapons of war. In December 1914, the railway came under attack from the Imperial German Navy, causing damage to the NER's infrastructure and killing several of its men. As the war went on, locomotives and rolling stock were sent to France to help with the enormous logistics required for operations on the Western Front. The planned opening of an electrified railway line for freight went ahead with a brand new fleet of powerful electric locomotives, adding to the company's portfolio of electrification with the electrified Tyneside passenger line and Newcastle Quayside.N ER land was used to build an enormous munitions factory at Darlington and the unprecedented use of women in the work place meant traditionally male-only roles were increasingly seeing women take over and freeing men for military service.Overseas, men of the NER that joined the forces served with honour, but many were not to come home. The North Eastern Railway in the First World War tells the story of one railway's war, of how it continued to operate and adapt, and the men and women who served with the company or left to fight for the country's freedom.

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The story of the Great Liners begins on the Atlantic route between the Old World and the New, between Europe and the United States. It was the most prestigious, most progressive and certainly most competitive ocean liner run of all time. It was on the North Atlantic that the largest, fastest and indeed grandest passenger ships were created. In this book, William Miller concentrates for the most part on these Atlantic superliners. It has been a race, sometimes fierce, that has continued for well over a century. Smaller passenger ships, even ones of 30,000 and 40,000 tons, are for the most part left to other books. The story begins even earlier, in 1889, when Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II visited his grandmother, Queen Victoria, and attended the British Naval Review at Spithead. The British were more than pleased to show off not only the mightiest naval vessels afloat, but the biggest passenger ships then afloat, namely the 10,000-ton 'Teutonic' of the White Star Line. These ships caught the Kaiser's royal eye. His enthusiasm, his determination and, assuredly, his jealousies were aroused. Her returned to his homeland determined that Germany should have bigger and better ships.The world must know, he theorized, that Imperial Germany had reached new and higher technological heights. To the Kaiser and other envious Germans, the British had, quite simply, had a monopoly on the biggest ships long enough. British engineers and even shipyard crews were recruited, teaching German shipbuilders the key components of a new generation of larger ships. Shipyards at Bremen, Hamburg and Stettin were soon ready. It would all take eight years, however, before the first big German liner would be completed. She would be large enough and fast enough to be dubbed the world's first "super liner". She would only be the biggest vessel built in Germany, but the biggest afloat. The nation's most prominent shipowners, the Hamburg America Line and the North German Lloyd, were both deeply interested. It was the Lloyd, however, which rose first to the occasion. Enthusiastically and optimistically, the first ship was the first of a successive quartet. The illustrious Vulkan Shipyard at Stettin was given the prized contract. Triumph seemed to be in the air! The Kaiser himself went to the launching, on 3 May 1897, of this new Imperial flagship.Designed with four funnels but grouped in pairs, the 655-ft long ship was named 'Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse', honoring the Emperor's grandfather. With the rattle of chains, the release of the building blocks and then the tumultuous roar as the unfinished hull hit the water, this launching was the beginning of the Atlantic race for supremacy, which would last for some 70 years. Only after the first arrival of the trans-Atlantic jet in October 1958 would the race quiet down. The 'Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse' was the great beginning, the start of a superb fleet of what has been dubbed "ocean greyhounds" and later aptly called the "floating palaces". Worried and cautious, the normally contented British referred to the brand new Kaiser as a "German monster".

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Silver was the codename for the only quintuple spy of the Second World War, spying for the Italians, Germans, Japanese, Soviets and the British. The Germans awarded him the Iron Cross, Germany s highest military decoration, and paid him 2.5 million in today s money. In reality Silver deceived the Nazis on behalf of the Soviets and the British. In 1942 the Russians decided to share Silver with the British, the only time during the war that the Soviets agreed to such an arrangement. This brought him under the control of Peter Fleming who acted as his spy master. Germans also gave Silver a transmitter which broadcast misleading military information directly to Abwehr headquarters in Berlin. Silver was one of many codenames for a man whose real name was Bhagat Ram Talwar, a Hindu Pathan from the North West Frontier province of then British India. Between 1941 and 1945 Silver made twelve trips from Peshawar to Kabul to supply false information to the Germans, always making the near-200-mile journey on foot over mountain passes and hostile tribal territory.Once when an Afghan nearly rumbled him, he invited him to a curry meal in which he had mixed deadly tiger s whiskers killing the Afghan. "

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From Gazala to Tunisia: 422 Days in the Life of the 2nd Battalion, The Rifle Brigade is the story of the riflemen and their battles of Gazala to the successful end of the North African campaign. These 422 days include the bitter battles of Gazala, the conflict around the Cauldron, the loss of Tobruk before the forced withdrawal with the remainder of the Eighth Army, along the Mediterranean Coast and finally digging in at Alamein. Due to their involvement in the battles around the Alamein Line, the Mine Task Force opened gaps in the Axis defences which allowed British armour to overwhelm the Germans. The riflemen of the 2nd Battalion took on the enemy in the battles at the Mareth Line and Wadi Akirit in Tunisia before joining the First Army in the final conflicts that brought the North African campaign to a successful conclusion. It was this battalion that marched two miles into enemy lines to take occupation of the Snipe position, feeling the full brunt of Rommel's counterattack, before marching back 36 hours later. It has been said that Alamein was the turning point of the war and that Snipe was the turning point of Alamein. This superb book tells all these takes and more in a detailed, powerful and moving account of the 2nd Battalion during its finest 15 months.

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This ground-breaking exploration of the Anglo-Saxon 'Avon valley frontier', combines archaeology and documentary sources, to present a case for remarkable continuity during the Dark Age and Anglo-Saxon period. Based on research in the department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic History at Cambridge University, this study explores the evidence of archaeology, chronicles, charters and place-names to analyse the history of the 'Bristol Avon' as a frontier from the 4th to the 11th century. The result is a regional history that mirrors the history of Anglo-Saxon England. It also reveals a striking continuity in the use of the Avon valley as a frontier; the roots of which are discernible in the Late Iron Age. Yet this continuity tells two different 'stories', either side of Bath, which influenced the actions of successor kingdoms over hundreds of years. In this history, Offa, Alfred, Guthrum, Edward the Elder, Athelstan, Edgar and Cnut all played their parts. Even the legendary Arthur and the semi-legendary Vortigern have walk-on parts. What is surprising is that 21st century civil and Church boundaries still reflect this history, which is over 1,500 years old.

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This collection of 168 colour photographs, which date from 1958 to 1967, features the Western Region of B.R., formerly the territory of the Great Western Railway, and its motive power. Bill Reed took the pictures during a number of visits to stations, sheds and to areas offering an attractive vantage point to shoot film. The engines have been pictured at various locations around the Western Region, ranging from; Barmouth and Aberystwyth in north west Wales to Whitland in the south west; Crewe and Wellington in the north east to London Paddington, Oxford and Princes Risborough in the south east. The places one would generally associate with the Western Region are also present and they comprise; Swindon (depot, station and works), Bristol, Exeter, Newton Abbot, Truro and Penzance.Bill has taken photographs of locomotives working on a number of branch lines around the Western Region and these are particularly evocative of the era. They also point to the future, in the form of the Beeching Report, when mass closures occurred eliminating these stations serving the local communities. The branch line stations featured are often deserted and the carriages partially empty.In some instances the stations would never serve many people, but others would lose passengers after the rise in motor car use in the wake of the Second World War. The W.R. attempted to entice passengers to some lines with diesel railcars, also reducing costs, and an example is seen in this collection at Kemble station. The G.W.R. had also tried this tactic with their own railcars and two have been captured at Worcester.

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Napoleon arrived on St Helena in October 1815 aboard the British 74-gun warship HMS Northumberland. For the first six weeks he stayed at the Briars, a property in the Upper Jamestown Valley where he enjoyed the hospitality of the Balcombe family. By the end of December, the re-building work on his destined home, Longwood, was completed, and Napoleon accompanied by his entourage moved there, much to Napoleon's annoyance. He found the site bleak, inhospitable, and considered it conducive to rheumatism. The British Government was paranoid about Napoleon being rescued and maintained a large military presence on the island, and numerous warships anchored offshore. This paranoia extended to the new Governor, Sir Hudson Lowe. He ran a typrannical and petty campaign against the residents at Longwood and had violent arguments with Napoleon, who refused to cooperate with him. This book is one of the best accounts of Napoleon's five-and-a-half years' imprisonment, which ended with his death from a stomach ulcer. It details all of the personalities, Napoleon's household, the domestic arrangements, the island residents, the military residents and the long-standing feud between Plantation House and Longwood. It also covers Betsy Balcombe, the Deadwood Races, Napoleon's habits and his garden and much, much more. The book has eighty colour and black & white illustrations.

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The fuse to the First World War was lit in the Balkans where simmering hatreds exploded into violence. Like a string of firecrackers, these hatreds had been fuelled by attacks on the Turkish Ottoman Empire in the previous few years. From 1911-1912, Italy seized Libya. In 1912, the Balkan states united to drive Turkey out of Europe in the First Balkans War, and in the following year in the Second Balkans War, turned on each other in a division of the spoils which allowed Turkey to retain a foothold in Europe. This was a war of land campaigns, sea battles and amphibious operations in which the new military technology was first used. Submarine and aircraft attacked ships, aircraft made reconnaissance flights and bombed troops while even electronic warfare was used. It also saw mirror images of the events in the First World War; Bulgarians driven from Salonika where an Allied army would later be contained and Turkish troops held back in the Dardanelles, their guns driving off a naval task force. These now forgotten wars were the overture to the First World War and yet they have overtones a century later.The First World War saw echoes of these campaigns in Salonika and especially in the Dardanelles, while the ethnic tensions would erupt into further bloodshed after the Cold War ended as Yugoslavia collapsed during the 1990s.

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‘Panzersoldaten!’ is a history of the Milizia Volontaria per la Sicurezza Nazionale (MVSN), commonly referred to as the Blackshirts due to their wartime attire. They were an anti-Communist paramilitary organisation that fought for Mussolini while Italy was under fascist rule; following the Duce’s removal from power, the organisation was quickly swept up by the Italian Army, and forced to swear allegiance to the king. Some, however, defected and continued to fight for the Axis alliance as volunteer units in the German Army. This volume covers the history of the Blackshirt Division during the campaign on the Eastern Front, focusing on its relations with the Italian Army, the history of the MVSN, its advance into Ukraine, and the First and Second Battles of the Don River. Morisi, using almost exclusively contemporary resources and battalion war diaries, as well memoirs from senior officers of the division, has created a definitive analysis of the Blackshirts.

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Even by Victoria Cross standards, the exploits of Thomas 'Todger' Jones V.C., D.C.M., of the 1st Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment, are truly extraordinary. It was a miracle that he survived the act for which he was awarded his V.C., but remarkably, after going 'over the top' by himself, he defeated the odds and secured what is believed to be the most prisoners ever captured by a single individual in the entire war. 'Todger', as he was affectionately known, served as a private soldier for the duration of the conflict, but in that time he displayed outstanding levels of gallantry and leadership, far in excess of his rank. A quiet man unassuming man in peacetime, Todger was a force to reckon with when in battle. This book chronicles his life with an added emphasis on his wartime service in the trenches of France and Flanders. Todger was born and bred in Runcorn, Cheshire. In 2014 his commemorative statue was unveiled opposite the town's cenotaph. This book also features never seen before photographs of the statue being made.

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With Edward now his curate at Stanway and married with a family Francis' interest in national and county events is eclipsed by family and local events. The growing Oxford Movement, (or Tractarians), is now mentioned regularly and Francis begins to lean more towards the Movement and away from his previous view of himself as a 'traditional' clergyman. His attitude to the Triennial Music Meeting changes too from the enthusiasm of younger years to a distinctly negative view as he grows older.

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Volume Eight begins with a family holiday, probably the only time in which the whole family, including grandchildren, spent a long time together (May-June 1846). The destination was the Isle of Wight where they had an enjoyable sojourn of five weeks, although Margaret's poor health precluded her doing much walking. Much of the volume covers property matters and the Hunt Trust. The summer of 1847 did not include a holiday, but as a substitute, Francis and Margaret spent nine days with the Hunt family in Stoke Doyle, Northamptonshire, and of course much Trust business was discussed. The following year saw their holiday, with a four-week break in North Wales. From 1848 onwards Margaret's health went into a severe decline. Missing diaries result in us knowing little of what happened between November 1848 and December 1849, but from that point onwards Margaret became bed-bound and by the end of this volume she was lying at death's door. Volume Eight is interesting for depth of detail. The Irish Potato Famine is covered, although not in as much detail as one may have imagined.There is also the say news of the death of Frederick Howell, in South Africa, killed in a conflict with Hottentots. Frederick was the eldest son of Thomas Howell, Francis Witt's closest friend.

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Carrying On presents the complete story of the Carry Ons which have made Britain laugh for generations on film, television, and stage, and of the unique British filmmaking partnership of producer Peter Rogers and director Gerald Thomas. Writer and film historian Ian Fryer takes us on a journey into the glorious days of classic British humour, bringing to life the Carry On films and the vibrant, fascinating world of comedy from which they sprang. This lively and entertaining book presents detailed histories of the thirty Carry On films, revealing a cinematic legacy which is often more clever and complex than expected; from the post-war optimism of Carry On Sergeant and Carry On Nurse, via mini-epics such as Carry On Cleo, all the way to the smut-tinged seventies. Carrying On also turns the spotlight onto the host of other productions the Rogers and Thomas partnership brought to the screen along with detailed biographies of legendary Carry On stars such as Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims, and Barbara Windsor who have brought fun and laughter to millions for decades.

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Waterloo is perhaps the most famous battle of the 19th century and surely in the top ten of all military engagements in the last 500 years. Many have sought reasons why Napoleon lost the great battle. This book presents the litany of failures by one of Napoleon's key subordinates, General Drouet d'Erlon, which led ultimately to defeat.

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A unique event-the handing over of an entire country by another that did not own it, to a people who simply laid claim to it by virtue of their myths and traditions-happened in 1917 when the British 'gave' Palestine to the Jews via the Balfour Declaration. The Palestinian Arabs never accepted the theft of their land but have been powerless to resist the weight of support for the Jews given by the most powerful nations. Despite the foundation of Israel in 1948, the region has been plagued by wars, injustice, and a vast refugee 'problem' which has dominated the lives of millions. Today, the future of the Palestinians is dire and seemingly inevitable. In this thorough new examination, J. E. Thomas delves deep into the foundations of the issue, analysing the Zionist claim to the Holy Land in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and their ruthless campaign to dispossess Palestinian Arabs-a campaign that continues to this day.

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The holocaust began for the Slovka Jews in Autumn of 1938, when Slovakia became an autonomous region. Jewish property was confiscated and businesses liquidated at bargain prices all in an effort to "Aryanize" the country. But by March 26, 1942 the first trainloads of Jews deported from Slovakia embarked to their final destination at Auschwitz, and death camps in the Lublin area. The mechanism for rounding up the Jews and subsequent forced deportation was the Hlinka Guard. By October 1942 the Hlinka Guard had overseen the deportation of some 60,000 Slovak Jews. During the 1944-1945 German occupation, another 13,500 Jews were deported and 5,000 imprisoned. Many of the Jews ended up at the Auschwitz Birkenau Concentration and Extermination Camp. After a brief respite, the Hlinka guard once again took to rounding up, and persecuting Jews throughout Slovakia. Slovak Gypsies (Roma) were also persecuted by the Hlinka Guard. Hlinka Guardsmen were used to do the dirty work, killing suspect Roma rebels in front of their wives and children, and then murdering the entire family.

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Belfast, August 1969. A campaign for civil rights in Northern Ireland (which had begun less than two years previously) degenerates into intercommunal violence as centuries of mistrust, animosity, and blatant sectarianism come to a shuddering head. The three days of August 13th, 14th, and 15th drastically changed the course of Northern Irish history and also radicalised a generation of Catholic youths. On the Protestant side, there was similarly little to predict that their young generation would become embroiled in the longest period of Irish Troubles to date. The UVF, dormant since the creation of the state, was revived in 1966, but it was barely mentioned anywhere outside the Shankill Road; by 1972 it was involved in full conflict. Belfast '69 provides interviews with individuals from both sides of the conflict, many of whom went on to join the various 'armies' that sprung up in the wake of the riots. Many British Army officers who were only passive onlookers in those early days also offer up their own stories. By analysing these fascinating personal accounts in the wider context of the Troubles, alongside other key sources, Belfast '69 seeks to answer the most pertinent questions about the events of those days. How were the emerging youth of both sides radicalised by the violence? How did the events drive an otherwise-indifferent generation to carry out some of the most heinous crimes in Irish history? And, most importantly, can today's society learn from the bloody mistakes of our recent past?

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An aviation legend designed in the mid-1940s, the Canberra entered service in 1951 with RAF Bomber Command. It served in the conventional, interdictor and nuclear bomber role with the RAF, in the UK, Germany, the Middle East and Far East. Its performance and adaptability made it ideal as a reconnaissance aircraft, and the final version, the Canberra PR9, only finally retired in July 2006! The Canberra was used in many support roles, especially in signals / electronic warfare. The Canberra was adopted by air forces from South America to Africa and India, as well as Australia and New Zealand, and license-built as the Martin B-57 served. It was involved conflicts from the Suez War and Malaya Confrontation, and various other hot spots with the RAF, to the Australian and USAF ops in Vietnam, and even the India-Pakistan War when both sides used Canberras, and the 1982 Falklands War. Used in trials and evaluation the Canberra held various height and speed records, and NASA’s High Altitude Research Program WB-57s are still active. The Canberra has also had dedicated enthusiasts, and aircraft (or cockpits) still survive in museums, as well as some in flying condition.

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In late 1944, the Second World War in the Pacific was going badly for Japan. The U.S. Pacific fleet had moved to the Mariana Islands in support of General MacArthur’s army, which had landed on the east coast of Leyte in October. The U.S. 7th Fleet was near the Surigao Strait off Leyte. The Japanese strategy was to entrap the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet by its naval forces from the north in the Sibuyan Sea, and with assault from the south from Surigao Strait. On the afternoon of 24 October, 7th Fleet torpedo-boats moved through Leyte Gulf and Surigao Strait into the Mindanao Sea south of Leyte, and by dusk were in position on their patrol-lines. Covering the northern part of the strait, were posted the destroyer squadrons, cruisers, and battleships to form the horizontal bar to a "T" of vast fire power which the enemy would be forced to approach vertically as he moved forward. With overwhelming force, the impenetrable gauntlet defeated the Japanese at Surigao Strait and played a significant in winning the Battle of Leyte Gulf and in so helping to secure the beachheads of the U.S. Sixth Army on Leyte against Japanese attack from the sea.

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Robert Ellis James-Robertson (but always known as Ellis) lived at Worcester from the mid-1950s and travelled extensively around the country building up a large railway archive. In the early 1960s a few of Ellis’s photographs were published in books and magazines and the credit ‘R. E. James-Robertson’ may be familiar to some. This book of mainly unpublished colour and black and white photographs has been created entirely from Ellis’s collection within about a 35 miles radius of Worcester, it will appeal to railway enthusiasts, modellers, and those with an interest in local history. The time period covered is from the mid-1950s through to the mid-1960s, steam is the predominant traction throughout together with occasional shots of early diesel power. Coverage includes much of Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire, plus the Birmingham area. Ellis and his wife Norah celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary in 2013, and Ellis passed on in April 2015 aged 92. Their daughters, Louisa and Fiona, contacted filmmaker and author Michael Clemens whose late father was a friend of Ellis’s. Ellis’s collection lives on today at films shows around the country given by the author and now in this first of a number of books using his photographic archive.

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