Search results for ""Author Roy"

Motorcycles entered military service in World War I, replacing the mounted despatch rider and mechanizing machine-gun and stretcher units. The conflict brought an enormous upsurge in the use of motorcycles in Europe and America. This comprehensive new book covers the lively history of the machines, highlighting the roles of military motorcycles, and how they have evolved. An A-Z directory focuses on 160 motorcycles, showing their diversity. Detailed specification boxes are featured for every motorcycle described. This expertly written book, with its wealth of rare and previously unseen photographs, provides enthusiasts and historians with key information about these diverse and multi-tasking vehicles. The story of the military motorcycle, from the early years of the 20th century to the present day * An illustrated A-Z of over 160 vehicles, including makes such as Harley-Davidson from the USA, Royal Enfield from the UK, BMW from Germany, and other famous manufacturers from around the world, such as Husqvarna, Henderson and Kawasaki * Specification panels provide at-a-glance information about each motorcycle's official name, country of origin, date, crew, weight, dimensions, powerplant and performance * Features over 550 photographs, which illustrate each type and include rare and unseen images from archives, museums and private collections * A glossary explains key terms and abbreviations

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This informed and richly illustrated guidebook brings the ancient city of Akhetaten alive with a keen archaeological eye, drawing on ongoing archaeological research and the knowledge and insight of Amarna’s modern-day communities and caretakers to explain key monuments and events, while offering invaluable practical advice for visiting the site. With over 140 illustrations, maps, and plans, Amarna is both an ideal introduction for visitors to Amarna and a window onto the extraordinary reign of Akhenaten. Huge open-air temples served the cult of Aten, while palaces were decorated with painted pavements and inlaid wall reliefs. Akhenaten created a new royal burial ground deep in a desert valley, and his officials built elaborate tombs decorated with scenes of the king and his city. As thousands of people moved to Akhetaten, it became the most important city in Egypt. But it was not to last. Akhenaten’s death brought the abandonment of his city and an end to one of the most startling episodes in Egyptian history. Today, Akhetaten is known as Amarna, a sprawling archaeological site in the province of Minya, halfway between Cairo and Luxor. With its beautifully decorated tombs and vast mud-brick ruins, it is the best-preserved pharaonic city in Egypt.

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Emirates Diaries tells the story of how Peter Clark came to love the Emirates and its people. He got to know Abu Dhabi sheikhs and Dubai merchants and people at every level of society. The country was on the cusp of enormous economic expansion and this book is an affectionate picture of the Emirates when it was still like a chain of large informal villages. The people of the UAE were aware of their good fortune and were, he found, open, generous and innovative. Clark arranged for the explorer Wilfred Thesiger to return to the country he had celebrated before it became oil-rich. Thanks to Peter, Thesiger met up with his old companions who had accompanied him in crossing the Empty Quarter 40 years earlier. Peter embedded himself in the local cultural scene and translated stories by Dubai's best known writer, Muhammad al-Murr. Emirates Diaries tells of opera in Ras Al Khaimah, how Shakespeare was brought to large audiences of young people, how to organize a royal visit, an outbreak of foot and mouth disease among the oryx in the Al Ain zoo, the culture of camel racing and an unpaid bill left by Margaret Thatcher. The diaries sparkle with mischievous humor and acute observation. This book is a prequel to Peter Clark's Damascus Diaries: Life under the Assads, described by The Economist as 'quirky, digressive and indiscreet'.

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In her third book of poems, Sinead Morrissey builds on the achievement of her award-winning collection, "Between Here and There", by expanding the lyric into new territories and admitting new voices. The theme of imprisonment is variously addressed: in the actual prisons of eighteenth-century Europe; in the prison of our own limited perceptions of experience, particularly of other cultures when abroad; in the prison of the mortal human body itself. Alongside the intimate interiors of human relationships, the poems are also interested in broader discourses, particularly history, and range in scope from the Royalist convictions of a woman wearing a Scold's Bridle during England's interregnum, to the story of the number zero. Form and content, as well as the personal and the political, are blended throughout this collection with imagination and consummate skill. As in her previous two books, travel remains a source of inspiration: one exhilarating poem details, in nine 'chapters', a six-thousand-mile train journey across China in which the conflicting faces of a rapidly changing country jostle for space.The collection ends with a compelling act of ventriloquism, as Morrissey recounts, in the first person, the life and works of the great prison reformer John Howard, and details his vision for the moral regeneration of the corrupted human soul.

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Explorers and travellers have always been attracted by the lure of the unknown. By traversing and mapping our planet, they have played a vital role in mankind's development. For almost two hundred years, the Royal Geographical Society has recognised their achievements by awarding its prestigious gold medals to those who have contributed most to our knowledge of the world.Taking us on a journey across mountains and deserts, oceans and seas, Exploring the World tells the stories of more than eighty of these extraordinary men and women. Some, such as David Livingstone, Scott of the Antarctic and Jacques-Yves Cousteau, are well known; whilst others, such as William Chandless and Ney Elias, are today less familiar. Some dreamed of being the first to sight a lake or a river; others sighted some of the world's greatest natural features by chance. Some were naturalists, anthropologists or mountaineers; others went in search of explorers who had vanished without trace, or had been shipwrecked or marooned.Filled with epic tales of endurance and perseverance, Exploring the World celebrates a group of exceptional individuals possessed of indomitable courage, boundless determination and adventurous spirit. It portrays a variety of fascinating lives driven by curiosity, wanderlust and the pursuit of knowledge - and, in doing so, provides a unique overview of two centuries of exploration.

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As the moon rises over the South African savannah, a young African girl called Thembile and her father, a wildlife ranger, are out patrolling through the night on horseback. They hear the heart-rending cries of a terrified rhino calf, and find him shivering beside the mutilated body of his mother. Help is summoned, but who will care for this orphan, look after him and pay for his milk and medicines? Ubuntu: Summer of the Rhino is brilliantly told and beautifully illustrated and will delight children from the age of eight years upwards. It tells the story of a young African girl and an English boy living in Dubai, whose love of animals and interest in wildlife inspires them to care for an orphaned Rhino, Ubuntu. The story of Ubuntu the rhino weaves back and forth across continents, at once heart-breaking and heart-warming, teaching children the importance of conservation and protecting our wildlife. All royalties will be donated to the Rhino Rehabilitation Centre of Rhino Revolution, to help rescue and rehabilitate orphaned rhinos. By buying this book you are making a difference - but do join the Revolution and help make the world a kinder place: visit rhinorevolution.org.

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How can social movements help bring about large-scale systems change? This is the question Jen Gobby sets out to answer in More Powerful Together. As an activist, Gobby has been actively involved with climate justice, anti-pipeline, and Indigenous land defense movements in Canada for many years. As a researcher, she has sat down with folks from these movements and asked them to reflect on their experiences with movement building. Bringing their incredibly poignant insights into dialogue with scholarly and activist literature on transformation, Gobby weaves together a powerful story about how change happens.In reflecting on what's working and what's not working in these movements, taking inventory of the obstacles hindering efforts, and imagining the strategies for building a powerful movement of movements, a common theme emerges: relationships are crucial to building movements strong enough to transform systems. Indigenous scholarship, ecological principles, and activist reflections all converge on the insight that the means and ends of radical transformation is in forging relationships of equality and reciprocity with each other and with the land.It is through this, Gobby argues, that we become more powerful together.100% of the royalties made from the sales of this book are being donated to Indigenous Climate Action www.indigenousclimateaction.com

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A vivid reappraisal of the legendary Captain Cook, from bestselling biographer Frank McLynn The age of discovery was at its peak in the eighteenth century, with heroic adventurers charting the furthest reaches of the globe. Foremost among these explorers was navigator and cartographer Captain James Cook of the British Royal Navy.Recent writers have viewed Cook largely through the lens of colonial exploitation, regarding him as a villain and overlooking an important aspect of his identity: his nautical skills. In this authentic, engrossing biography, Frank McLynn reveals Cook's place in history as a brave and brilliant seaman. He shows how the Captain's life was one of struggle--with himself, with institutions, with the environment, with the desire to be remembered--and also one of great success.In Captain Cook, McLynn re-creates the voyages that took the famous navigator from his native England to the outer reaches of the Pacific Ocean. Ultimately, Cook, who began his career as a deckhand, transcended his humble beginnings and triumphed through good fortune, courage, and talent. Although Cook died in a senseless, avoidable conflict with the people of Hawaii, McLynn illustrates that to the men with whom he served, Cook was master of the seas and nothing less than a titan.

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As Charles III is crowned King of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, and Defender of the Faith, this timely book explains the Christian symbolism of the coronation, and the unique significance of Christian monarchy in the history of the British Isles. God Save the King explores the theme of sacred kingship, its origins in primal religion, its central role in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible and its representation in modern popular culture. The book also analyses the particular relationship in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth between sovereign and church, the monarch’s traditional roles as protector of Protestantism and Defender of the Faith, and how these are being reinterpreted in the context of a multi-faith and multi-cultural Britain. With the inclusion of fascinating details of sacred engagements in the annual royal calendar and little-known rituals, this book represents a celebration and an exploration of sacred monarchy as it has been understood and practised over the centuries and of its continuing relevance today. This is an indispensable and essential guide to the history, structure and symbolism of the coronation service, including lively anecdotes about things that have gone wrong in past ceremonies. It will provide the perfect companion for all who wish to understand the significance and symbolism of what will happen on 6 May.

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Traitor's Blood, the first in The Civil War Chronicles, Michael Arnold's acclaimed series of historical thrillers, sees battle-scarred hero Captain Stryker, 'the Sharpe of the Civil War', confront his nemesis. 'Stands in comparison with the best of Cornwell' Yorkshire PostOnce seen in the heat of battle, Captain Stryker is never forgotten. A hardened veteran of the wars in the Low Countries, he has come home to England to seek revenge on the man who left him for dead and scarred him for life.Stryker is driven by loyalty rather than conviction to serve King Charles's cause. He has no truck with aristocracy, preferring the company of a handful of trusted men, including sometime actor Lancelot Forreseter and his foul-mouthed sergeant, Skellen. But when the existence of a dangerous spy at the heart of the Royalist establishment is discovered, it is Stryker whom Prince Rupert chooses to capture the man before he realises the game is up.Lightly armed and with only a handful of men, Stryker must journey across a country riven by bitterness and beset by marauding bands of soldiers in a race against time. But unbeknown to Stryker, someone else is also closing in on his quarry, someone whom Stryker has sworn to kill: Captain Eli Makepeace, his nemesis, the man who nearly destroyed him . . .

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The greatest conquest in historyGenghis Khan left an empire more than twice the size of Alexander’s: his successors went on to conquer and govern an area stretching from Korea to the River Danube. How did a band of nomadic herdsmen achieve so much, so fast?Despite these stunning achievements, many writers dismiss the Mongols as just ferocious barbarians. This bestselling book sets the record straight. The epic starts in 1206 - when Genghis became master of ‘all the people with felt tents’ and an unknown tribe took the first steps towards world domination - and ends with the empire’s decline and fall, after Khubilai Khan’s triumphant unification with China.Robert Marshall describes their devastating invasions, including that of feudal Europe and Christendom’s clumsy attempts to understand and fend off these legendary warriors. Full of extraordinary events, painted on a vast and colourful canvas, Storm from the East brings to life a time when East and West finally came face to face and the contours of modern Asia were set.‘Storm from the East does not seek to excuse Mongol excesses - yet Robert Marshall appears to speak for the Mongols… A fascinating voyage through time and space’ Thomas Nivison Haining in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

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Status Quo? All their songs sound the same and they only know three chords' Really? This retrospective of one of Britain's most successful bands takes this lazy criticism and puts it to the sword. Spanning the period 1970 to 1984, the creative peaks and troughs of all the songs recorded by 'The Frantic Four' are examined in detail by a fan who can play guitar a bit, and also knows his Bach from his byte. Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Alan Lancaster, and John Coghlan withstood the slings and arrows of unending criticism to become a national institution, even playing to Royalty along the way. After their early, psychedelic-influenced and fleeting pop success, Quo underwent a dramatic and natural re-invention, unleashing a series of innovative albums and hit singles, such as 'Down Down' and 'Rockin' All Over The World' that established their unique sound and style. Relentless touring, changes in musical direction, unwise choices of producer, substantial substance abuse, and personality clashes, all played their part in the collapse of the classic line-up before a brand re-launch in 1986 that enjoys continued success to the present day. Status Quo - The Frantic Four Years on track examines the band's groundbreaking first era with critical detail and honest opinions.

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Ballet is a breathtaking photographic collection, celebrating the precision, athleticism and artistry of classical and contemporary ballet. Live performances allow us to admire ballet's visual splendour from afar, but rarely are we given the opportunity to study dynamic poses, leaps and lifts in intimate, close-up detail. An inspirational companion for dance aficionados, performing arts enthusiasts and keen photographers, Ballet captures awe-inspiring moments performed by the art form's most remarkable talents. Leo Mason's arresting images provide a unique glimpse into the world of ballet and its superstars, featuring a cast of former and current principal dancers including Carlos Acosta, Tamara Rojo, Vadim Muntagirov, Daria Klimentova and Ivan Vasiliev. With over 40 years' experience as a sports and dance photographer, Leo recreates the beauty and seemingly effortless nature of the discipline - made even more remarkable by the gruelling training required to achieve perfection - and often uses exposure creatively to capture movement and compose striking images. Each photograph is accompanied by a detailed caption, providing information on the performers, work, location and date, along with technical specifications regarding camera equipment, exposure and aperture. Includes images of: Carlos Acosta, Tamara Rojo, Vadim Muntagirov, Daria Klimentova and Ivan Vasiliev at the Royal Opera House, Sadler's Wells and the London Coliseum.

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In many respects Dudley was the most significant figure of his age. As a great impresario, he showed Elizabeth off to her people to glittering effect and became the forerunner of Shakespearian theatre, combining classicism with ribaldry. He attracted the financing of Drake's circumnavigation. He was the supporter of academic endeavour, of poetry, and of Puritan scholarship. By employing a network of his own agents, he provided information of crucial importance to Government. He built some of the finest houses and gardens of the age. As Master of the Horse, he developed English bloodstock to provide horses for Royal and military requirements. He saw to it that England's navy and army was properly prepared to meet Continental aggression when needed. Lord Robert Dudley has faced criticism from historians by competing with William Cecil to gain the ear of Elizabeth I and thwarting his efforts to arrange a political marriage for her to protect against Continental Catholic aggression. There can be no doubt that Elizabeth wanted to marry him. He was devastatingly attractive, athletic and loyal. The text provides compelling evidence that the virgin queen' spent time in bed with him. An influential and important character of the Elizabethan age, this biography places Robert Dudley within the context of the time and how he navigated court as the favourite of the infamous Elizabeth I.

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Tudor London was a vibrant capital city, the very hub of English cultural and political life. The thriving metropolis had a strong royal presence, at the long established Tower of London and Westminster, and later at the palaces of Whitehall, Bridewell and St James’s, built by Henry VIII to host his glittering court. Anne Boleyn was assigned a house in the Strand, with gardens running down to the river, while Elizabeth I stayed occasionally at Somerset House. The great and the good gravitated to the city too: Erasmus lodged with Sir Thomas More and his family in Bucklesbury, off Cheapside; Sir Walter Raleigh wrote poetry in his study in Durham House, overlooking the Thames and William Shakespeare lodged in Silver Street. Like today, streets and areas grew up with their own distinct personality: Bankside and Shoreditch were the first theatre and entertainment districts where the Globe Theatre was built to sit alongside the bear-baiting rings. Londoners themselves, and the many immigrants who flocked from the continent, created a lively, raucous society in the streets, markets and the hundreds of inns and ale-houses. Everyday Life in Tudor London vividly recreates this colourful city.

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William Adams (1823 - 1904) is probably best known from his locomotive designs for the London & South Western Railway. The years at Nine Elms were the culmination of career which began formally in marine engineering, including a period at sea with the Royal Sardinian Navy, encompassed civil engineering and surveying before joining the North London Railway as locomotive, carriage and wagon superintendent. He has been described as the father of the suburban train, an inventive engineer, who pioneered the use of continuous train brakes, developed well designed, free-steaming locomotive boilers for services requiring rapid acceleration and frequent stops, and his invention of a bogie with controlled side-play revolutionised future locomotive design. His next move was to the Great Eastern Railway where his designs met with mixed success, before moving south of the Thames to Nine Elms. Here, over five hundred locomotives were built to his designs, with his later express classes regarded by many as his greatest achievement. Adams also proved himself a very capable designer in developing locomotive and carriage works at all three railways, improving efficiency and reducing costs. This book tells the story of a genial man with a love of music, who was undoubtedly one of the finest late Victorian locomotive engineers.

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Here returned to print, at a timely moment in history, is Elie Kedourie's classic study of the Middle East in modern times. In analyzing British failures in the region during the zenith of their power and influence, Mr. Kedourie attributes much of Britain's faulty and disastrous handling of Middle East problems to what he calls "the Chatham House version." It was a view of Middle Eastern history and politics propounded and propagated in the various publications of the Royal Institute of International Affairs (known popularly as Chatham House), written or edited by Arnold Toynbee. The episodes that Mr. Kedourie investigates show "successive and cumulative manifestations of illusion, misjudgment, maladroitness, and failure." Together they point up hard lessons for the Bush administration or any outside power that would intervene in Middle Eastern affairs. "No better guide...can be found to the pitfalls awaiting those who seek to control the Middle East to their own advantage."—Asian Affairs "These twelve studies in the modern history of the Middle East [form] the most learned book, the most demanding therefore of rethinking, that has come out on the Middle East for many years, and anyone who in the future writes on any Middle Eastern subject, from any point of view, without consulting it, will do so at his or her grave peril."—London Telegraph

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In Bed with the Georgians provides a fascinating insight into life under the bed-clothes in Georgian England, where the Madams and pimps were able to thrive in the eighteenth century like never before. It looks at high-class seraglios as well as the brothels, jelly-houses and bagnios which flourished openly, especially in the area around Covent Garden. It looks at courtesans from the highest echelons of society, the kept women, the sex-workers in 'houses of pleasure', down through to the street walkers and common whores. It shows the way that the sex scene was portrayed in contemporary letters and press reports, and focuses on royal scandals, aristocratic shenanigans and immoral behaviour. The book looks at the role of Grub Street, the growth of celebrity status, and the way courtesans occupied a demi-monde of great popularity, with their enormous wealth and conspicuous spending. In particular it looks at the way that caricaturists, such as Gillray, Rowlandson, Newton, and Cruikshank, pilloried the rich and famous for their peccadilloes, satirizing their wild excesses, and by so doing helped inform the general public of what their 'social superiors' were getting up to.This book is lavishly illustrated in colour and contains a useful glossary of many aspects of the world of the sex trade in London two and a half centuries ago.

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Lawmen were crucial to the economic wellbeing of medieval nunneries; this book looks at the relationship between them and how cases were conducted. In late medieval England, cloistered nuns, like all substantial property owners, engaged in nearly constant litigation to defend their holdings. They did so using attorneys (proctors), advocates and other "men of law" who actuallyconducted that litigation in the courts of Church and Crown. However, although lawyers were as crucial to the economic vitality of the nunneries as the patrons who endowed them, their role in protecting, augmenting or depleting monastic assets has never been fully investigated. This book aims to address the gap. Using records from the courts of the common law, Chancery, and a variety of ecclesiastical venues, it examines the working relationships withoutwhich cloistered nuns could not have lived in fully enclosed but self-sustainingc communities. In the first part it looks at the six mendicant and Bridgettine houses established in England, and relates the effectiveness and resilience of their cloistered spirituality to the rise of legal professionalism in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It then presents cases from ecclesiastical and royal courts which illustrate the work of legal professionals on behalf of their clients. Elizabeth Makowski is Ingram Professor of History, Texas State University.

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An illustrated edition of the classic book of golf advice first published in 1925. Foreword by Masters and Ryder Cup legend Ian Woosnam. The advice found in Don’ts for Golfers was originally printed in 1925 and contains hundreds of snippets of entertaining, timeless and amusing advice for golfers of all abilities. Advice includes: - 'Don't irritate your opponent by wearing jazzy colours. To dazzle his eyes with a multi-coloured pull-over or peace-disturbing golf stockings is to take a mean advantage.' - 'Don't blame your clubs for faults of your own that may be easily corrected if you analyse your methods of using the implements.' - 'Don't over-indulge yourself in eating and drinking during the non-golfing days, and then expect to work off excess by "a good game of Golf." You may play Golf of sorts, but it will not be a good game.' - 'Don't make Golf your sole topic of conversation. There are a few otherwise quite intelligent persons who are non-golfers. You will never make converts if you bore non-players to distraction by for ever talking of the Royal and Ancient Game.' The content, ranging from technique and equipment to etiquette on the course, provides a fascinating snapshot of life in early twentieth-century Britain.

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Learn how to create breathtakingly beautiful lace cakes for weddings and romantic occasions with this definitive guide to lace cake decorating techniques from international cake decorating guru Zoe Clark. In Elegant Lace Cakes, Zoe takes you step-by-step through creating her signature style cake designs, which feature delicate and detailed sugar lace on cakes using a range of sugarcraft techniques. Through 12 stunning cake decorating projects, Zoe explores innovative new products such as Sugarveil and Cake Lace, as well as more established techniques for creating lace effects on cakes including applique with fondant icing, and piping and brushwork with royal icing. The sensational lace cake designs included range from classic whites and pretty pastels to bolder Burlesque-inspired colourways. Each main cake is presented alongside a smaller spin-off idea, showing you how the effects can also be applied to cookies, mini cakes and fondant fancies to complement the theme. Not only does Zoe show you how to recreate the designs in the book, she also reveals how to take your own piece of lace and recreate it in sugar, as well as all the basic techniques you need to bake, level, and cover your cakes for a perfectly polished professional finish.

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This comprises the household accounts of the only noble family then resident in Devon. Remarkable for their richness and diversity, the collection of documents has not been previously published and will considerably add to our understanding of the county's social history in the seventeenth century. The rare survival of parallel London and provincial accounts allows invaluable comparisons and analysis which will be of wide appeal. The accounts recorded thehousehold's very fabric from the servants' financial particulars (including their wages, clothing and diet) to minute details of such purchases as furniture, silver, musical instruments and pictures. There are also recurring entries for the planting of the extensive terraced garden and unusual entries such as the purchase of an organ from Gloucester and the construction of the Great Coach. The continual movement of the Earl and Countess between Devon and London is shown and this is of added significance given that the Earl was the county's leading Royalist and the accounts cover the entire Civil War period. There are accounts for the Earl's diet in 1642 while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and the volume also includes the Countess' personal account book in which she recorded their Civil War involvement.

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Paris in 1200 was a city in transition. The great cathedral of Notre Dame was halfway through its construction and walls were being built to enclose the new, larger limits of the city. Pope Innocent III ordered all French churches closed to punish King Philip Augustus for his remarriage; the king himself negotiated an unprecedented truce with the English; and the students of Paris threatened a general strike, punctuated with incidents of violence, to protest infringements of their rights. John W. Baldwin brilliantly resurrects this key moment in Parisian history using documents only from 1190 to 1210—a narrow focus made possible by the availability of collections of the Capetian monarchy and the medieval scholastic thinkers. This unique approach results in a vivid snapshot of the city at the turn of the thirteenth century. Paris, 1200 introduces the reader to the city itself and its inhabitants. Three "faces" exemplify these inhabitants: that of the celebrated scholar Pierre the Chanter, of King Philip Augustus, and of the more deeply hidden visages of women. The book examines the city's primary institutions: the royal government, the Church, and its celebrated schools that evolved into the university at Paris. Finally, it offers an account of the delights and pleasures, as well as the fears and sorrows, of Parisian life in this period.

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During the Heian period (794–1185), the sacred mountain Kinpusen, literally the “Peak of Gold,” came to cultural prominence as a pilgrimage destination for the most powerful men in Japan—the Fujiwara regents and the retired emperors. Real and Imagined depicts their one-hundred-kilometer trek from the capital to the rocky summit as well as the imaginative landscape they navigated. Kinpusen was believed to be a realm of immortals, the domain of an unconventional bodhisattva, and the home of an indigenous pantheon of kami. These nominally private journeys to Kinpusen had political implications for both the pilgrims and the mountain. While members of the aristocracy and royalty used pilgrimage to legitimate themselves and compete with one another, their patronage fed rivalry among religious institutions. Thus, after flourishing under the Fujiwara regents, Kinpusen’s cult and community were rent by violent altercations with the great Nara temple Kōfukuji. The resulting institutional reconfigurations laid the groundwork for Shugendō, a new movement focused on religious mountain practice that emerged around 1300. Using archival sources, archaeological materials, noblemen’s journals, sutras, official histories, and vernacular narratives, this original study sheds new light on Kinpusen, positioning it within the broader religious and political history of the Heian period.

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The events of 1000-1130 were crucial to the successful emergence of the medieval kingdom of the Scots. Yet this is one of the least researched periods of Scottish history. We probably now know more about the Picts than the post-1000 events that underpinned the spectacular expansion of the small kingdom which came to dominate north Britain by the 1130s. This expansion included the defeat and absorption of other significant cultural and political groups to the north and south of the core kingdom, and was accompanied by the introduction of reformed monasticism. But perhaps the most momentous process amongst all these political and cultural changes was the move towards the domination of the kingship by just one segment of the royal kindred, the sons of King Mael Coluim mac Donnchada's second marriage to Queen Margaret. The story of how these sons managed to achieve political supremacy through machination, murder and mutilation runs like an unsavoury thread throughout this book. The book also investigates the building blocks from which the kingdom was constructed and the various processes which eventually allowed the kings of the different peoples of north Britain to describe themselves as Rex scottorum. It is a hugely rewarding voyage of discovery for anyone interested in the formation of the kingdom of the Scots.

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'Tony is the real deal.' Andy McNabThe full, explosive, boots-on-the-ground story of the Falklands War, from a soldier at the heart of the action, published for the 40th anniversary of the conflict. Tony Hoare always knew he wanted to be in the SAS.Both his grandfather and father had been soldiers, and so Tony signed up for the Cadets at 13, then the Infantry at 17 and enlisted into the Royal Green Jackets before passing arduous SAS selection in 1978.Less than four years later, Tony and his team were sent to a collection of islands just off the coast of Argentina called the Falklands, where tensions were rising and war was on the horizon.No amount of training could prepare Tony for what happened over the course of the next twelve weeks, as the Falkland Islands became a battleground between British and Argentinian forces. As helicopters crashed and ships sank, Tony, at the centre of the action, battled across treacherous terrain and against a fearsome enemy, doing whatever it took to retake the islands.From one of the only soldiers who was on the frontline throughout the entire conflict, this is a thrilling account of what really happened in the Falklands, an explosive story of land, sea and air battles from a trooper who saw it all.

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Oliver Cromwell had not a drop of royal blood in him. Yet in 1657, prompted by the political chaos that followed the execution of Charles I and inspired by a belief that a return to monarchy was the only way to stabilize the nation, parliament offered Cromwell the crown of Britain. In Perceptions of a Monarchy without a King, Benjamin Woodford explores how factions both inside and outside of government reacted to this unprecedented event. Moving away from a biographical focus on Cromwell, Woodford looks to the print culture of the period to examine kingship and the Cromwellian regime as a complex phenomenon that elicited diverse reactions - from broadly in favour to dead-set against. Woodford analyzes Cromwell's speeches along with propaganda, newspapers, poetry, republican writings, and the works of religious sects. The fact that many of these writings were produced by men and women who were not members of the government demonstrates that both politicians and the general public were interested in the topics of Cromwell and kingship. Cromwell's military and political power rendered him a candidate for kingship, but even with his record of achievement, the offer of the crown to a non-nobleman was controversial. Perceptions of a Monarchy without a King reveals the entire nation's responses to the kingship debates while simultaneously illustrating the persistence of the monarchy in the 1650s.

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From royalty to peasantry, every age has its bad eggs, those who break all the rules and rub everyone up the wrong way. But their niggling, anti-social and irritating ways not only tell us about what upset people, but also what mattered to them, how their society functioned and what kind of world they lived in. In this brilliantly nitty-gritty exploration of real life in the Tudor and Stuart age, you will discover:– how to choose the perfect insult, whether it be draggletail, varlet, flap, saucy fellow strumpet, ninny-hammer or stinkard– why quoting Shakespeare was very poor form – why flashing the inside of your hat could repulse someone– the best way to mock accents, preachers, soldiers and pretty much everything else besides Ruth Goodman draws upon advice books and manuals, court cases and sermons, drama and imagery to outline bad behaviour from the gauche to the galling, the subtle to the outrageous. It is a celebration of drunkards, scolds, harridans and cross dressers in a time when calling a man a fool could get someone killed, and cursing wasn’t just rude, it worked!‘Ruth is the queen of living history – long may she reign!’ Lucy Worsley

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What it means when your father dies. How it feels when summer comes. What it’s like to live in a great but troubled American city. The value of wearing sunscreen. These are just a few of the topics that Mary Schmich addresses in this second, expanded edition of Even the Terrible Things Seem Beautiful to Me Now, a collection of her columns from the Chicago Tribune, including the 10 that won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for commentary. Schmich is the rare newspaper columnist whose writing resonates long after it’s published and far beyond the place she lives. She may be best known for a column widely called “Wear Sunscreen”—misattributed to Kurt Vonnegut and turned into a hit recording by Baz Luhrmann—but her writing ranges as widely as life itself. It can be slyly humorous, deeply moving, or tough. She addresses subjects as varied as family love, sexual harassment, long friendships, poverty, and Chicago violence. Every city has its voices, the enduring writers who both explain and create a city’s culture. Chicago has had many, including the legendary Mike Royko and Studs Terkel. Mary Schmich is among them. In a hectic age, her writing lifts us, calms us, and helps us understand.

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The Commandos were created by Winston Churchill in 1940 as a 'butcher and bolt' raiding unit to destroy vital targets in German occupied Europe. Recruits for this 'special service' were all volunteers, drawn from the British Army, and later from the Royal Marines and other Allied armies. Commando training was extremely demanding – men had to be physically fit and show initiative, mental toughness and adaptability. The training courses were designed to cultivate these qualities and to simulate real battle experiences, which included the use of live ammunition. Commandos learned a diverse range of skills at dedicated training centres in the remote Scottish Highlands. This pocket-book draws on authentic training manuals, lecture notes, course literature and other material from the commando schools to give a real insight into this highly specialised fighting unit – demonstrating how commandos were taught to live, fight and move on offensive operations, initially as raiding parties, and later as skilled assault infantry. Sections of the book cover survival and fieldcraft skills; night operations; assaulting obstacles; use of equipment – such as the COPPS canoe for beach reconnaissance and sabotage; and weapons training, including the Thompson submachine gun, the Bren gun, and the famous emblem of the commandos – the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife.

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How will she choose, knowing all she must sacrifice? Libby has been given a powerful gift: to live one life in 1774 Colonial Williamsburg and the other in 1914 Gilded Age New York City. When she falls asleep in one life, she wakes up in the other. While she's the same person at her core in both times, she's leading two vastly different lives. In Colonial Williamsburg, Libby is a public printer for the House of Burgesses and the Royal Governor, trying to provide for her family and support the Patriot cause. The man she loves, Henry Montgomery, has his own secrets. As the revolution draws near, both their lives--and any hope of love--are put in jeopardy. Libby's life in 1914 New York is filled with wealth, drawing room conversations, and bachelors. But the only work she cares about--women's suffrage--is discouraged, and her mother is intent on marrying her off to an English marquess. The growing talk of war in Europe only complicates matters. But Libby knows she's not destined to live two lives forever. On her twenty-first birthday, she must choose one path and forfeit the other--but how can she choose when she has so much to lose in each life?

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Heirs of Ambition: The Making of the Boleyns uncovers the story and the family behind England’s most obsessed-over queen, Anne Boleyn.From the fields of Norfolk to the royal court, via city commerce, local government, liberal education and numerous wedding bells, the Boleyns emerge as just one of many newly prosperous and ambitious families seeking to make the best of a changing world. As they struggle upwards, England is visited by famine, plague, revolt and civil war – but also opportunity.Struggling peasants in dirt-floored cottages scratch a living on tiny scraps of land. More than half are swept away by plague while revolt soaks the south-east in blood, but hope lies in the teeming, timber-framed streets of London amongst ambitious merchants who speculate and scheme. Meagre rations become venison pasties and straw-filled mattresses, featherbeds, but some things remain the same. Disease has no respect for gold and silver; war takes sons whose lives have barely begun. While the Boleyns’ new-found wealth delivered power and status, they still lived in a violent world and life could be precarious, even for a queen.From steady climb to bone-breaking fall, the Boleyns’ story is medieval life at its messy, prejudiced and unstable best.

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This comprehensive, beautiful book delves deep into the complex but fascinating story of our relationship with colour throughout human history. Colour is fundamental to our experience and understanding of the world. It crosses continents and cultures, disciplines and decades. It is used to convey information and knowledge, to evoke mood, and to inspire emotion. This book explores the history of our understanding of colour, from the ancient world to the present, from Aristotle to Albers. Interspersed in the historical story are numerous thematic essays that look at how colour has been used across a wide range of disciplines and fields: in food, music, language and many others. The illustrations are drawn from the Royal College of Art’s renowned Colour Reference Library which spans six centuries of works and nearly 2,000 titles, from a Gothic manuscript on the composition of the rainbow to hand-painted Enlightenment works on colour theory and vibrant 20th-century colour charts, including many fascinating examples not seen in other books.Delving far and wide in this fascinating and varied subject, this book will help readers find new layers of meaning and complexity in their everyday experiences and teach them to look closer at our colourful lives.

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Sophie is an aspiring British Pakistani actress whose only claim to fame – despite her vast and unscrupulous ambitions – is the unplanned on-camera birth of her son, a clip which has become something of a cult favourite on the Indian B movie scene. Her husband, Tariq, is a pillar of Bradford’s Muslim community and her perfect match, until his sudden disappearance under mysterious circumstances. When a body is found, presumed to be his, but disfigured in a way that makes identification difficult, Sophie is distraught. Tariq was her ‘third time lucky husband’. Her first, Amir, came out of a childhood sweetheart relationship that couldn't last, and her rebound marriage to doting Faraz, a recent immigrant to the UK and obsessed with the Royal Family, was even shorter lived. Is Sophie just luckless or is there more to her than meets the eye? And maybe, just maybe, one of her exes has something to do with Tariq’s untimely death. Might one of them be responsible for the threatening letters? Sophie herself is guilty of something, but is murder part of her ambition? In Sophie, Dar has created a flawed yet hypnotising female lead: a cunning, narcissistic character for fans of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl and Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister the Serial Killer. It is just a matter of time before her intricate web of lies begins to draw tighter.

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*Now a major Disney+ short film starring John Travolta*The chilling thriller from the international bestselling phenomenon.'A cunningle wrought tale' Financial Times'A stirring and beautiful story' The Times_____________Christmas Eve, 1957.For one Royal Air Force pilot, one last hurdle remains between himself and a cozy Christmas morning in England. A sixty-six-minute flight in his Vampire fighter plane from Germany to Lakenheath.A routine flight plan and a full tank of fuel. What could go wrong?But as the fog begins to close in, the compass goes haywire and the radio dies, leaving him in silence, lost and alone up in the inky black sky.All hope seems lost as he accepts his fate when, out of nowhere, a vintage fighter-bomber appears and is miraculously trying to make contact.For one lonely pilot this is a miracle, but really the mystery has just begun ..._____________With over 1,000 5* reviews . . .***** 'This was for me the best Christmas military short story'***** 'What a great story!! I just loved it.'***** 'A splendid story. Still have goosebumps after reading it.'***** 'I, too, read this every Christmas season - and think of it often throughout the year.'***** 'What a wonderful surprising ending, I didn't see that coming, very good story, I think imma remember it for a long time.'

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The Jacobite Grandson, sequel to Son of a Jacobite, traces the later life of Thomas Lovat and the childhood-into-adulthood of his son, Edward. Thomas and Edward travel to Persia, so recapturing some of the profound influence that Shiite Islam had on Thomas’s identity and development. Edward joins the Royal Navy and travels on the Third Fleet to New South Wales, the first incursion by the family to the great southern lands. Two of the people he meets on board will steer much of the rest of his life, both career and personal. While in New South Wales, he meets and interacts with some of the key figures in the British colonisation of Australia, seeing its strengths and weaknesses. He also liaises with some of the convict class and the Indigenous population, both formative experiences. As Thomas did in the Americas, so Edward experiences tensions between his role as a British officer and his rebellious Jacobite heritage. He returns home and enters an agronomic career, one that will take him to Sweden and Ireland where he will meet his first love. Edward then returns to his home in Lancashire to take up a prestigious position on an agricultural estate where he meets his second love. He continues to be torn between class and sectarian divisions and between experiences of marital bliss and marital persistence.

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The brother and sister team of Karen and Richard Carpenter rank as one of the most successful acts in pop music history. Between the first Carpenters' album released in 1969 and their final studio album together in 1981, they achieved three Grammy awards, 18 hits in the US Top 20 (and ten in the UK) and multiple platinum discs, leading to eventual sales of over 100 million copies worldwide. Although the group's career was brought to a tragic and premature end by the untimely death of Karen Carpenter in 1983, they remain a much-loved band that continue to attract new fans. The Carpenters crafted their own distinctive sound with multi-part harmonies and lush arrangements, providing a rich backdrop for the distinctive sound of Karen Carpenter's vocals. In addition to being a gifted interpreter of songs, Karen was also passionate about playing the drums, with Richard's talents extending to keyboards, singing, composing, arranging and producing. This book explores the background to each of their studio albums and classic singles, as well as their solo recordings, live albums and compilations of rare tracks. From their earliest recordings in a jazz trio through to Richard's reinterpretations of their best-known songs with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and as a solo pianist, this appraisal looks at over 55 years of Carpenters' releases.

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It is easy to believe that the only part that Britain's railways played in the First World War was to carry the soldiers to the ships that would take them to France. This couldn't be further from the truth. Without the help from the railways it is unlikely that the war would have been over as quickly as it was. In _Britain's Railways in the First World War_ Michael Foley examines how the railway system and its workers proved to be a vital part of the war effort, one contemporary writer even commenting that he thought they were as significant as the navy. The book describes how the enlistment of railway troops for the Royal Engineers to meet the increasing transport demands of the military was to bleed the civilian system dry as skilled railwaymen were sent to work at the front. In addition, the military commandeered thousands of Britain's railway vehicles, sending them to each of the theatres of war, and turned the already stressed railway workshops away from maintaining what remained of the country's railways and rolling stock so they could produce armaments for the forces instead. The book also reveals how the British were so far behind their enemies and allies in the use of railway support to the front lines that they had to plead for help from Canada.

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Much has been written about the Royal Air Force during the Second World War-memoirs, biographies, histories of Fighter and Bomber commands, technical studies of the aircraft, accounts of individual operations and exploits - but few books have attempted to take the reader on a journey through basic training and active service as air or ground crew and eventual demobilization at the end of the war. That is the aim of James Goulty's Eyewitness RAF. Using a vivid selection of testimony from men and women, he offers a direct insight into every aspect of wartime life in the service. Throughout the book the emphasis is on the individual's experience of the RAF - the preparations for flying, flying itself, the daily routines of an air base, time on leave, and the issues of discipline, morale and motivation. A particularly graphic section describes, in the words of the men themselves, what it felt like to go on operations and the impact of casualties - airmen who were killed, injured or taken prisoner. A fascinating varied inside view of the RAF emerges which is perhaps less heroic and glamorous than the image created by some post-war accounts, but it gives readers today a much more realistic appreciation of the whole gamut of life in the RAF seventy years ago.

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It's been three months since the Snow Queen and OzCorp infiltrated Maidenkeep and nearly seized the Nine Maidens. Ryker is still unconscious after the Snow Queen attacked him and is being monitored at the hospital. Abigail Fey's curse has far-reaching consequences, and many in the Royal States has been using it to stir unrest and hostilities against Avalon.When the Adarna, a firebird-like creature appears in Avalon, the gang discovers it is one of seven magical artifacts that the Snow Queen has been searching for, in her bid to open a portal to Buyan. Determined to find the artifacts first the Bandersnatchers find information about the other five artifacts: the Lotus Lantern in China, the tamatabeko in Japan, the Pied Piper's Flute and the Singing Bone in Germany, and the raskovnik at World's End, the site where Peter Pan and Captain Hook had fought and had destroyed. The final relic is a portal somewhere inside Wonderland.But the Snow Queen will stop at nothing to get to the relics first. And when one of their own is killed in the fight it takes everything they have to continue the fight to save Avalon once and for all.

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Paris, 1633. Louis XIII is king of France . . . and Cardinal Richelieu governs the country. One of the most dangerous and most powerful men in Europe, Richelieu keeps a steady eye on the enemies of the Crown, to thwart their spies and avert their warmongering. But he's up against people who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals, including forging alliances with France's oldest and deadliest enemies: Spain, and the Court of Dragons.The nobility keep tiny dragonnets as pets; royal couriers ride tame wyverns, and lethal man-shaped scaled dracs roam the country. But the power rising from the Court of Dragons is anything but mundane, and they're determined to raise true dragons: ancient, terrible, utterly merciless . . . and poised to move against France . . .This edition includes: The Cardinal's Blades, The Alchemist in the Shadows and The Dragon Arcana.'A fast-moving story, full of action, intrigue, and swashbuckling adventures' Dark Wolf's Fantasy Reviews'Deeply satisfying... . Pevel lets each of his fascinating characters shine in turn while weaving them together in a rich plot with just the right mix of inevitability and surprise. The storytelling is wonderful' Publishers Weekly'History and alternate history buffs, including fans of Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, should flock to this stylish, swashbuckling fantasy'Library Journal

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The Sunday Times bestsellerGrowing up in Liverpool in the 1960s and '70s, when skinheads, football violence and fear of just about everything was the natural order of things, a young Will Sergeant found the emerging punk scene provided a shimmer of hope amongst a crumbling city still reeling from the destruction of the Second World War. From school-day horrors and mud flinging fun to nights at Liverpool's punk club, Eric's, Sergeant was fuelled by and thrived on music. It was this devotion that led to the birth of the Bunnymen, to the days when he and Ian McCulloch would muck around with reel-to-reel recordings of song ideas in the back parlour of his parents' council estate house, and to finding a community - friends, enemies and many in between - with those who would become post-punk royalty from the likes of Dead or Alive, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and the Teardrop Explodes to name a few. It was an uphill struggle to carve their name in the history of Liverpool music, but Echo and the Bunnymen became iconic, with songs like 'Lips Like Sugar,' 'The Cutter' and 'The Killing Moon'. By turns wry, explicit and profound, Bunnyman reveals what it was really like to be part of one of the most important British bands of the 1980s.

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A great nursing reformer, Ethel Gordon Fenwick was born before the age of the motor car and died at the start of the jet age. When she began her career, nursing was a vocation, unregulated with a dangerous variety of standards and inefficiencies. A gifted nurse, Ethel worked alongside great medical men of the day and, aged 24, she became the youngest matron of St Bartholomew's hospital London, where she instigated many improvements. At that time, anyone could be called a nurse, regardless of ability. Ethel recognised that for the safety of patients, and of nurses, there must be an accepted standard of training, with proof of qualification provided by a professional register. Often contentious, Ethel was a determined woman. She fought for nearly thirty years to achieve a register to ensure nurses were qualified, respected professionals. A suffragist and journalist, she travelled to America where she met like-minded nursing colleagues. As well as helping to create the International Council of Nurses, and the Royal British Nurses Association, she was also instrumental in organising nurses and supplies during the Graeco-Turkish War, and was awarded several medals for this work. Thanks to her long campaign for registration, a year after her death nurses were ready to take their place alongside other professionals when the National Health Service began in 1948.

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In the late eighteenth century mental illness was treated with brutal and inhumane methods by mad-doctors', and the treatment of George III was no exception. George III's Illnesses and His Doctors provides an insightful, forensic and sympathetic picture of how and why members of the royal family turned in desperation to an unqualified quack practitioner, James Lucett, in the hope of finding a cure for the king's insanity'. Much has been written in the past about Mad King George'. This book brings fresh evidence and new understanding to the case of the mad' king. Lucett's claims were tested in psychiatry's first therapeutic trial' and science was invoked in an attempt to improve understanding of the roots of insanity. The results were mixed but nevertheless George III's case and the subsequent career of the deeply flawed Lucett were important elements in the revolutionary change in attitudes to the treatment of the insane which came about as the nineteenth century progressed. Based closely on primary source material, George III's Illnesses and His Doctors is a moving story of human suffering but also of efforts to challenge medical orthodoxy and to improve understanding of mental illness. Some of the issues raised in the early nineteenth century remain to be resolved now.

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As any historian will testify, a nineteenth-century woman's place was very much at home. Or was it? For a lucky (and plucky) few, who had a little determination, and the ability to withstand lice infestations, climbing mountains in corsets, rascally guides and occasional certain death - as well as the raised eyebrows of the society they left behind - then the world really was their oyster. In this lively re-telling of twenty-two extraordinary ladies who did just that, Caroline Roope invites you to journey to the further corners of the earth along with them. From humble missionary Annie Royle Taylor, who knew God would keep her safe, to the haughty aristocrat, Lady Hester Stanhope who defied convention and dressed as a Turkish man including pistol, knife and turban, their collective voices still resonate hundreds of years later. Drawing on their original accounts and archival sources, this expertly researched book brings to light a wealth of stories that are full of grit (sometimes literally), courage, and just enough humour to wish we'd been there with them on their adventures on the other side of the horizon. So, pack a suitcase, along with a 'good thick skirt' a la Mary Kingsley, and prepare to go beyond the garden gate...

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The dockyard at Portsmouth was founded by Henry VII, developing into a naval base that was essentially the nation’s most important military establishment. Here, in times of war, huge fleets were assembled and the harbour that lay alongside the dockyard witnessed the constant arrival and departure of ships engaged in convoy duties, blockading and attacking enemy ports or intercepting hostile seagoing fleets. In turn, it was a potential target for an enemy, for if the dockyard could be destroyed or captured, then the nation’s first line of defence, the Royal Navy, would cease to be effective. Sensitive to such a danger, successive governments built defence structures in and around Portsmouth as well as barracks to house the navy, army and marine personnel. As the firepower of guns increased and the nature of fortifications changed, so did the defences of Portsmouth, with these gradually pushed further and further back so that the forts and gun batteries would always ensure the safety of Portsea Island from either land or sea attack. In the twentieth century the defences were adapted further for the new threat of aerial bombardment or attack by submarine. This book will be of interest to all those who would like to know more about Portsmouth’s remarkable military history.

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Inspired by the sight of RAF Lightning fighter interceptors climbing vertically into the sky at 50,000 feet per minute and by other British engineering and design achievements, Richard Noble, determined to put Britain back in the lead during the resurgence of national confidence of the 1980s, wanted Britain to regain the world land speed record. Thrust 2, driven by Richard Noble, broke the world land speed record on 4 October 1983 in the Black Rock desert in Nevada. Powered by a Rolls-Royce Avon turbo-jet engine, it reached a speed of 650.88 mph (1,047,49 km/h}. It would hold the land speed record until 25 September 1987. In this fascinating book, Richard Noble tells the inside story of the development of the car that would beat the world. The story takes the reader from the drawing board, through the considerable technical difficulties, including aerodynamics, mounting an engine designed for jet fighter aircraft, and maintaining stability with suspension and wheels at speeds of over 650 miles per hour. Despite the huge challenges, including recovery from a crash, they were overcome by the confidence and determination of Richard Noble and his team. Including unseen illustrations, this is the true inside story of the world-beating Thrust 2 project.

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The AEC Regal IVs and Regent IIIs, or to give them their class prefix letters RFs and RTs, are among the most revered buses to have served London over the years. The RFs were maids of all work and were tailored for private hire, Green Line coach work and ordinary stage bus work in both the central and country areas. The first of the type were introduced in October 1951 and a total of 700 vehicles were built for the London Transport Executive. They replaced virtually all the other types of single-deckers then operating in the metropolis. The RT was first introduced to service in 1939 and production ran to 151 vehicles before construction ceased in early 1942. Following the war, the Park Royal factory recommenced building the type in 1947, with the last new chassis being rolled out in 1954, taking the bonnet number RT4825. Both types soldiered on throughout the 1970s as LTE encountered severe problems with their ‘OPO’ replacements before both finally bowed out within a week of each other in March/April 1979. This account charts the last years of operation of both types from the mid-1970s onward, focusing on North London.

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