Search results for ""the history press ltd""

A Bucket of Sunshine – a term coined by RAF aircrew for the nuclear bomb that their aircraft would be armed with - is a first-hand insight into life in the mid-1960s on a RAF Canberra nuclear-armed squadron in West Germany, on the frontline in the Cold War. The English-Electric Canberra was a first-generation jet-powered light bomber manufactured in large numbers in the 1950s. The Canberra B(I)8, low-level interdictor version was used by RAF Germany squadrons at the height of the Cold War.Mike Brooke describes not only the technical aspect of the aircraft and its nuclear and conventional roles and weapons, but also the low-level flying that went with the job of being ready to go to war at less than three minutes’ notice. Brooke tells his story warts and all, with many amusing overtones, in what was an extremely serious business when the world was standing on the brink of nuclear conflict.

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William Paulet was the ultimate courtier. For an astonishing 46 years he served at the courts of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth and was one of the men responsible for introducing the changes in religious, economic and social issues which shaped England as we know it today. He was a judge at the trials of Fisher, More and the alleged accomplices of Anne Boleyn, and though born a commoner, by his death he was the senior peer in England and, as Lord High Treasurer, he held one of the most influential positions at court. With his long and varied career within the royal household and in government, a study of Paulet presents an excellent opportunity to look in more detail at courtly life, allowing the reader an understanding of how he spent his working day. Tudor Survivor is the biography of the man who defined the role of courtier, but also gives valuable insight into everyday life, from etiquette and bathing, to court politics and the monarchs themselves. When asked how he had managed to survive so long, Paulet replied ‘By being a willow, not an oak’. The author’s research shows that this remarkable man was steelier than he admitted.

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In 1952, Queen Elizabeth ascended to the throne and became the Sovereign Head of the Armed Forces. In the sixty years of her reign so far, there have been thousands of conscripts and regular service personnel who have served under her Colours all over the globe. This book is not just about war, but the everyday lives of those who serve on land, sea and in the air. Service men and women recall their experiences from the years after the Second World War to the Falklands War in 1982, through to modern military service at the end of a millennium and into the first years of the twenty-first century. From life in barracks at home and overseas, in a variety of hot and not-so-hot spots, to being on the frontline in major conflicts worldwide, from Kenya to Afghanistan. Male and female service personnel talk candidly about their experiences, offering a unique glimpse into a world in which they often risk their lives at a moment’s notice. Their stories are often laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes deeply moving and always inspiring. Under the Queen’s Colours is both a celebration of Her Majesty the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and a salute to the men and women who have served and continue to serve her.

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With its wild eroding sea, its gentle rolling fields and tall churches, Suffolk is a county of contrasts. It may seem a kindly and civilised place, but in that sea, in the reed beds, the woods and even down dark town streets lurk strange beasts, ghosts and tricksters. These thirty traditional tales retold by storyteller Kirsty Hartsiotis take you into a hidden world of green children and wildmen, of lovers from beyond the grave and tricksy fairy folk. Shaped by generations of Suffolk mardle and wit, in these stories you’ll discover the county’s last dragon, the secret behind Black Shuck, saintly King Edmund and heroic King Raedwald, haunted airfields, broken-hearted mermaids and the exploits of the county’s cunning folk. Embark on this journey around Suffolk and you’ll find you’re never far from a story.

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The spectacular and varied landscape of Dorset, with its giants, hill forts, Jurassic coast and ancient buildings is the source and inspiration for many curious stories that have been passed down in families and village communities for generations. This book contains a rich and diverse collection of those ancient legends rooted in the oral tradition. From the absorbing tales of the Old King of Corfe and the Thorncombe Thorn to the intriguing Buttons on a Card and George Pitman and the Dragon, these illustrated stories bring alive the landscape of the county’s rolling hills and coastline. Dorset actor, singer and storyteller Tim Laycock has a lifelong interest in the folklore and oral traditions of the county. Many of the stories in this collection have been passed on to him by Dorset residents, and appear here in print for the first time.

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As the Regia Aeronautica and the Luftwaffe unleashed their full might against the island of Malta, the civilian population was in the eye of the storm. Faced with the terror of the unexploded bomb, the Maltese people looked for help to the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal Section, who dealt with all unexploded bombs, outside of airfields and the RN dockyard, across an area the size of Greater London. Based on official wartime records and personal memoirs, the extraordinary tale unfolds of the challenges they faced — as the enemy employed every possible weapon in a relentless bombing campaign: 3,000 raids in two years. Through violent winter storms and blazing summer heat, despite interrupted sleep and meagre rations, they battled to reach, excavate and render safe thousands of unexploded bombs. Day after day, and in 1942 hour after hour — through constant air raids — they approached live bomb after live bomb, mindful that it could explode at any moment. In the words of one of their number they were ‘just doing a job’.

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Mike Morgan presents 25 stories about the larger-than-life exploits of the SAS and SBS in World War II, supported by a selection of rare archive and action shots. Some stories are previously unpublished.

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For much of the First World War, the opposing armies on the Western Front were at a stalemate, with an unbroken line of fortified trenches stretching from the Belgian coast to the Swiss border. The Allied objective after the bloody Battle of the Somme drew to a close in November 1916 was to decisively break through the German ‘Hindenburg Line’ and engage the numerically inferior German forces in a war of movement. The Arras offensive was conceived to achieve this breakthrough and was planned for early 1917 after considerable pressure from the French High Command. Commonwealth Forces advanced on a broad front between Vimy in the northwest and Bullecourt in the southeast, with the French Army attacking 80km further south in the Aisne area. Initial successes, albeit costly, were followed by a reversion to the previous stalemate and lead to a change of focus, with an assault on the Messines Ridge, near Ypres, beginning in June 1917. By the end of July, on the eve of the Third Battle of Ypres, a total of fifty Victoria Crosses had been awarded, including many troops from the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand Forces. This includes Captain Robert Greive, who single-handedly silenced two enemy machine-gun nests at Messines, and L/Cpl James Welch, who captured four prisoners with an empty revolver. The courage, determination and sacrifice of their generation should never be forgotten.

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Welsh genealogy is usually included with its English cousin, but there are significant differences between the two, and anyone wishing to trace their Welsh ancestry will encounter peculiarities that are not covered by books on English family history. There is a separate system of archives and repositories for Wales, there are differences in civil registration and censuses, Nonconformist registers are dissimilar to those of other Churches and Welsh surnames and place names are very different to English ones. Welsh Genealogy covers all of this as well as the basic Welsh needed by family historians; estate, maritime, inheritance, education and parish records; peculiarities of law; the Courts of Great Sessions and particular patterns of migration. Written by Dr Bruce Durie, the highly respected genealogist, lecturer and author of the acclaimed Scottish Genealogy, this is the ideal book for local and family historians setting out on a journey to discover their Welsh ancestry.

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Although the saying, ‘Pigs might fly…’ may bring a smile to one’s lips, even stranger things have been reported as appearing in Britain’s skies over the centuries. Eye-witnesses have testified that various terrifying and bizarre forms have appeared in the skies, from ghostly planes, phantom airships and UFOs, to reports of sky serpents, celestial dragons, flying jellyfish, rains of fish (or blood, or metal, or frogs…) – even reports of a griffin seen over London! It also considers reports of haunted aircraft hangars and airfields. Shadows in the Sky compiles hundreds of accounts from the spine-chilling to the downright bizarre, that’ll keep your eyes fixed looking upwards!

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Seven years after the Roman invasion of Britain in ad 43, Londinium was created. It would rise to become one of the most important Roman cities in Northern Europe. Life in Roman London approaches the history of Roman London in an entirely new way. Rather than focusing upon a handful of important figures such as procurators and statesmen, this book explores the lives and concerns of the ordinary citizens. Unlike many books about Roman history which are preoccupied with the basilicas, palaces, grand houses, statues and mosaics, Life in Roman London looks instead at the shops, houses and streets in which the majority of the fifty thousand or so inhabitants of the city spent their lives. In doing so, it reveals a city very different from the clean, white, classical metropolis familiar from the books of our childhood.

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Despite being one of the best-known and admired rail companies in the country, by 1947 the GWR was at the lowest ebb of its entire history. Worn out by war, there had been no maintenance for six years and the government couldn’t supply the steel it needed for repair. The latter half of the 1940s presented a multitude of challenges to overcome, some due to the recent war and others individual to the GWR: the staff coped with rationing, a desperately cold winter and a blazing hot summer, and dealt with floods, collisions, broken rails and failing locomotives. The incredible strength of character and can-do attitude of GWR workers kept the railway running through it all. This history, taken from GWR papers and illustrated from them throughout, reveals the details of every day, as well as the problems and difficulties the staff faced. Above all, it shows how well they overcame their problems with only muscle power and a steam crane to help – and, of course, no health and safety regulations and arguments to slow them down. Adrian Vaughan’s unique history of this famous rail company shows just how special the GWR was right through to the end of its very last year.

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This wartime biography follows the life of a Second World War B-17 bombardier from the beginning of the war to its conclusion. Based on the 150 letters the airman, Fred Lull, wrote home to his mother, much of the horrors of what he experienced off the wing of his plane, aircraft destroyed, dismemberment by flak, go unshared. Fred did not want his mother to worry and could not tell her: ‘I noticed some movement and a flash of light out of the corner of my right eye. The plane that had been flying right next to us had exploded and simply disappeared.’ Using the bombardier’s combat flight record, research data and interviews of former B-17 crew members, the story unfolds, breaking through the barrier of an unwillingness and inability to tell loved ones of the smell and taste of war.

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This is a fascinating collection of many unpublished photographs showing Crewe’s development during the twentieth century. Illustrated with well over 200 old photographs and images, it traces changes and development, and highlights the architectural wealth of the town from a number of different periods. The book features many different aspects, from the building of the magnificent Municipal Buildings to the changes on the Market Square. The effects of two world wars upon Crewe and its revival afterwards is also documented. Crewe has for many years created the industrial wealth for this part of South Cheshire. That affluence is shown admirably during the twentieth century by its constant endeavour to improve its residents’ lifestyle. The book will show to great effect how their living standards improved during this period.

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In the 1989/90 season, Bristol Rovers clinched promotion to the old ‘Second Division’, thanks largely to the tremendous team spirit of a side exiled in Bath, away from its traditional Bristol home. The ‘Ragbag Rovers’, as they became known, set an outstanding club record, remaining undefeated in 41 matches throughout the season, the highlight of which was a 3-0 victory against local rivals Bristol City in the penultimate game of the season. This remarkable time is remembered with many previously unpublished photographs, statistics and reports from every match, interviews with the players involved, plus a feature on the club’s first ever visit to Wembley Stadium for the Leyland Daf Cup Final. Anyone who was there will relish in reliving some of the magic through the memories and illustrations collected here, while those who are too young to recall it themselves can discover the thrill and anticipation that made it a season to remember.

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Front Line Bloggers – Afghanistan and Helmand Blog – Afghanistan (now combined as UK Forces Afghanistan) were established by the MoD to allow UK armed forces personnel to tell the public back home what they were doing there, in their own words. Officers, NCOs and other ranks representing a wide variety of units – infantry, artillery, signals, logistics, aviation, medical – contribute their thoughts and experiences on everything from what it’s like to take on the Taliban in a firefight to the difficulties of trying to eat well at a patrol base. These personal accounts give a picture of the conflict at ground level, the details of daily life that usually do not make the news, as well as individuals’ perspectives on major events. Some of the bloggers have even been asked to contribute to the Radio 4 Today Programme and Channel 4 News. With the war in Afghanistan in the news almost constantly, this is a timely book which tells the real story of what it’s like for our troops on the ground.

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Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross and listen to the tales of this ancient county. Hear how a King and his knights were turned to stone at the mysterious Rollright Stones; how Dragon Hill got its name; take the Devil's Highway to the End of the World - if you dare; or spend a night on the weird Ot Moor; listen in on the Boar's Head Carol; walk the oldest trackway in Europe in the footsteps of a Neolithic pilgrim; pause to try the Blowing Stone; leave a coin for the enigmatic blacksmith to shoe your horse at Wayland's Smithy; eavesdrop upon the Inklings in the Eagle and Child; and meet that early fabulist, Geoffrey of Monmouth in the city of dreaming spires. This collection will take you on an oral tour across the county - on the way you'll meet gypsies, highwaymen, cavaliers, a prime minister and a devilish mason.

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With humble beginnings as an RAF apprentice, Johnny Wells progressed to pilot and rose to the higher echelons of command at the Air Ministry. From idyllic pre-war training, he would fly bombers against rebels over Iraq, combat Fw190s over England in the newly introduced and equally dangerous Typhoon; he would undertake hazardous low-level anti-shipping strikes in the English Channel, as well as train-busting sorties over occupied territory at night and close-support ground-attack operations across northern Europe following D-Day. Indeed, Wells ended the Second World War as one of the most successful and highly decorated Typhoon Wing Leaders in the Tactical Air Force. This well-researched account of one man’s rise through the ranks of the Air Ministry is finely illustrated with contemporary images and is an excellent testimony of what was required of air pilots during the Second World War. Wells’ story is both an inspiration and a gripping account of one man’s journey through a service career spanning more than three turbulent decades.

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The Little Book of Birmingham is a funny, fast-paced, fact-packed compendium of the sort of frivolous, fantastic or simply strange information which no-one will want to be without. Here we find out about the city’s most unusual crimes and punishments, eccentric inhabitants, famous sons and daughters and literally hundreds of wacky facts. Norman Bartlam’s new book gathers together a myriad of data on Brum. There are lots of factual chapters but also plenty of frivolous details which will amuse and surprise. A reference book and a quirky guide, this can be dipped in to time and time again to reveal something you never knew. This is a remarkably engaging little book, and is essential reading for visitors and locals alike.

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The Birmingham City Miscellany – a book on the Blues like no other, packed with facts, stats, trivia, stories and legend. Delve deep to find out all about the events and people who have shaped the club into what it is today. Featured here are a plethora of stories on this charismatic football club ranging from how the club was formed, to little-known facts about players and managers. Here you will find player feats, individual records and plenty of weird and wonderful trivia. Rivalry with Villa, favourite managers, quotes ranging from the profound to the downright bizarre and cult heroes from yesteryear – a book no true Birmingham City fan should be without.

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The British Beach Groups were a combined force of men stationed on the Normandy Beaches from the initial landing until the last unit was disbanded a few weeks after D-Day. They performed many vital roles during the assault, including: arranging and controlling the movement of all personnel and vehicles from landing craft to inland assembly areas; moving stores from ship’s holds to dumps in the beach maintenance areas; developing and organising the beaches and beach maintenance areas for defence, movement and administration, including the evacuation of casualties and the recovery vehicles; providing a beach signal organisation; organising the removal and repatriation of casualties, prisoners of war and salvaged equipment; creating dumps to hold the petrol, ammunition, rations etc. that were being landed; and establishing assembly areas for arriving personnel and their vehicles. This book explores how this often-forgotten unit were the first to arrive and the last to leave one of history’s greatest military operations and how their behind-the-scenes action saved lives and were essential for the success of the landings.

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Throughout the Celtic world, in Britain, Ireland and France, the early Christian saints left a profound legacy to the history and culture of Northern Europe. This is the first ever dictionary of Celtic saints and is fully illustrated with photographs of where each saint lived and worked, ranging from ruined monasteries to holy wells, and from caves to Roman and Celtic forts. The reader is therefore drawn into the beautiful world which these men and women inhabited, while also being able to trace the history and legend surrounding these early British Christians. Easy to use, with an Introduction and maps to pinpoint the sites described in the text, A Dictionary of Celtic Saints will appeal to anyone interested in history, landscape or spirituality. Based on sound scholarship, it will also be helpful to students of civilisation and culture.

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The hundred years from 1850 to 1950 were London’s railway century, an era during which the city was defined by its railways: grimy and utilitarian yet at the same time elegant and innovative. This fascinating book explores the many contemporary transport themes of London’s termini, including goods depots, electrified lines, industrial railways and Southern suburban lines. Covering the pivotal century 1850–1950, each chapter describes a decade and an issue particularly relevant to that period, from the railway eccentricities and early termini of the 1850s and ‘60s, through the glamorous heyday of the railway hotels in the 1890s, to the devastation of the Blitz. With fresh research revealing something of interest to both the expert as well as the everyman, there are gems to delight commuter, resident and tourist alike. Well illustrated with contemporary illustrations and key maps for each chapter, this quirky and accessible insight into London’s railway history and its lasting legacy is a must for all.

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Very few cars inspire as much affection as the original Mini. It’s the small car everyone loves to eulogise because it oozes energetic fun, classless minimalism and evergreen style. But it's also of massive historical importance: the 1959 Mini, designed by Alec Issigonis, set the template from which all successful compact cars have been created ever since. It was the technological wonder of its age. The original Mini was on sale for 41 years, during which its 5.3m sales made it the best-selling British car of all time - an achievement unlikely ever to be beaten. And just when it looked like the little car would shrivel and die, BMW had the vision to reinvent it as the planet's most desirable small car range, and put it back on the serious motoring map as the MINI. Here, award-winning writer Giles Chapman tells the whole, amazing story.

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Edinburgh enjoys a long and impressive literary heritage and can claim connections with some of the world’s most famous writers. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Walter Scott were all natives of the city, while Robert Burns, Charles Dickens, J.M. Barrie and Samuel Johnson were just a few of those who forged links with what William Cobbett described as ‘the finest city in the kingdom’. Edinburgh has provided the setting for countless novels over the years, not least in more recent times with Muriel Spark’s The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961) and Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting (1993). Nowadays, the city hosts its annual International Book Festival, when, for a couple of weeks every August, authors and visitors from far and wide flock to Charlotte Square Gardens for ‘the biggest celebration of the written word in the world’. Published to coincide with the 21st Edinburgh International Book Festival, this work includes not only native Edinburgh authors but others on whom the city had a profound influence.

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The mobilisation of troops and equipment has always been crucial to winning a war. During the twentieth century, the days of horse-drawn logistics and cavalry charges gradually became a thing of the past, and the age of military vehicles began. This book charts the development of military vehicles from steam-powered tractors to modern main battle tanks. The story reveals how such vehicles have changed the way wars are fought, either by increasing the speed and volume of logistics or troop deployments, or through the application of mobile firepower. The narrative explains key technical innovations from World War I, through the inter-war years to World War II, the Cold War and beyond. It pays homage to outstanding designs and those that are remembered with fondness, including the M3 Lee/Grant, T-34, Panther, Tiger, M1 Abrams, Chieftain and M4 Sherman tanks; the Bren Gun Carrier, the Willys ‘Jeep’, the Dodge truck; through to the modern ‘Humvee’ and Stryker, and many more.

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Victorian Britain was the world's industrial powerhouse. Its factories, mills and foundries supplied a global demand for manufactured goods. As Britain changed from an agricultural to an industrial ecomony, people swarmed into the towns and cities where the work was; by the end of Queen Victoria's reign, almost 80 per cent of the population was urban. Overcrowding and filthy living conditions, though, were a recipe for disaster, and diseases such as cholera, typhoid, scarlet fever, smallpox and puerperal (childbed) fever were a part of everyday life for (usually poor) town-and city-dwellers. However, thanks to a dedicated band of doctors, nurses, midwives, scientists, engineers and social reformers, by the time the Victorian era became the Edwardian, they were almost eradicated, and no longer a constant source of fear. Stephen Halliday tells the fascinating story of how these individuals fought opposition from politicians, taxpayers and often their own colleagues to overcome these diseases and make the country a safer place for everyone to live.

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This nostalgic, humorous and richly illustrated volume celebrates the Somerset of years gone by. Syd Durston was seven when the Second World War broke out. As well as causing panic in Britain’s cities, the war transformed life in the countryside in all sorts of ways. This is how one boy remembers life in rural Somerset during that time, where from ‘the age of ten you were at school between 9 a.m. and noon, and then you could work on the land until 8 p.m.’. It is an elegy to the levels and the moors, and the rich diversity of wildlife that could once be found in the fields – ‘thousands of grasshoppers, large and small, hopping everywhere, butterflies of all kinds feeding on the red clovers that were now in flower; the smell of the honeysuckle and the dog roses in the hedges’ – and a lament for the landscapes and ways of life that we have now lost. From the outbreak of war to the drama of D-Day, Syd – whose watercolour paintings, many of which illustrate this collection, aim to show the reality of farming life as it was then – captures a moment in history as it really was. Containing more than 120 paintings, sketches and drawings, it will delight residents and visitors alike.

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In the 1950s and 1960s south Lancashire and Cheshire was criss-crossed by a web of railway lines, servicing the various needs of local industries. The region was a haven for railway enthusiasts who pursued the hundreds of steam workhorses based at British Railways depots in ‘chemical towns’ such as Warrington, Widnes, Wigan and Sutton Oak, besides Southport and Northwich. While these facilities appeared less glamorous than larger counterparts in Liverpool or Manchester, the stories of the engines, trains and the men who were based at the depots in these towns was no less fascinating. Shed Side in South Lancashire and Cheshireprovides a fascinating portrait of the daily operations of the freight and passenger trains of the region during the final decade of Britain’s steam era. It evokes a period of grimy, metal-clattering, smoke-filled industry, and of an era forever etched in our industrial heritage.

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Focusing on the second half of the eighteenth century, a period when Britain was almost continuously at war, this book looks at different social groups, from the aristocratic elite to the labouring and criminal poor, prostitutes and petty thieves. Drawing on a range of material from personal letters to trial reports, from popular prints to love tokens, it exposes the personal cost of warfare and imperial ambition. It also reveals the opportunities for greater self-determination that some women were able to grasp, as the responsibility for maintaining the home and bringing up children fell squarely on them in their husbands’ absence. The text includes many voices from the past and throws fresh light on an under-researched aspect of women’s history. Margarette Lincoln’s fascinating book is illustrated with images from the National Maritime Museum's extensive collection of oil paintings, prints and drawings.

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The popular seaside resort of Southend-on-Sea has long been a haven for holidaymakers, but the town also harbours some disturbing secrets... Discover the darker side of Southend with this spooky collection of spine-chilling tales from around the town. From ghostly sightings in Hadleigh Castle, ominous sounds and smells on the seafront and tales of mysterious shapes at the town’s pubs and taverns, this book is guaranteed to make your blood run cold. Illustrated with over sixty pictures, Haunted Southend will delight everyone interested in the paranormal.

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Who is the unseen lady that makes her presence chillingly felt to those who fail to bid her ‘Good Morning’? What was the featureless dark shadow that terrified a curious young boy exploring a disused fort? From heart-stopping encounters with a Roman soldier to the mysterious sounds of an ancient battle, this collection of ghostly goings-on and paranormal happenings is a mixture of personal accounts and well-researched local legends, with many of the stories backed up by the town’s rich, and sometimes bloody, history. Drawing on historical and contemporary sources, Haunted Weymouth is sure to send a shiver down the spine of anyone daring to learn more about the haunted history of the area. Including many previously unpublished stories, this book will appeal to both serious ghost hunters and those who simply want to discover what frights lurk beneath the surface of this once royal seaside resort.

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First published in 1916, A.L. Fowler’s book of household tips is an indispensable guide to effortlessly becoming a domestic goddess. With long-forgotten tricks for tackling twenty-first-century tasks such as removing stains, rescuing over-salted food and keeping a fridge odour-free, A.L. Fowler is practical and to the point. This delightful volume also reveals the best way to rid yourself of annoying household pests including spiders, ants and flies, and provides tips on how to remove odours from your hands while advising on the use of natural products to clean floors, windows and cooking utensils. Fowler also shows the early twentieth-century housewife how to perform miracles in the kitchen, with classic tips on making pastry extra flaky, the quickest way to peel carrots and how best to remove burnt bits from an overdone cake.

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In the Royal Navy vernacular, the term 'greenie' describes the officers and ratings responsible for the electrical engineering functions of the fleet. Electrical engineering has 'driven' the Royal Navy for far longer than one might imagine, from solving the problem of magnetic interference with the compass by the ironclad early in the 20th century onward. Author Commander Moore traces the development of technology from 1850 to today's integrated micro computers that control almost every aspect of navigation, intel, and strike capacity. At the same time, he describes how the Navy's structure and manpower changed to accommodate the new technologies, changes often accelerated in wartime, particularly in World War II. Without the full cooperation of naval establishments and organisations and various public and private museums and manufacturers, this work would have been impossible to produce. Written in an anecdotal, narrative style but with a complete mastery of the science itself, it will appeal not only to those interested in the history of the Royal Navy but also those many thousands, past and present, who can claim the honour of calling themselves one of the Greenies.

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This is the amazing story of Lockheed's Stealth fighter. With its origins in the SR71 Blackbird, XST and Have Blue, the F117 was developed, flown and tested in absolute secrecy before it entered service with the US Air force. This illustrated hardback book features the aircrafts development, dramatic combat record over Iraq squadron service at Tonopah and Holloman, in addition to facts, figures and pilots comments about this once top secret aircraft.

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Northumbria was one of the great kingdoms of Britain in the Dark Ages, enduring longer than the Roman Empire. Yet it has been all but forgotten. This book puts Northumbria back in its rightful place, at the heart of British history. From the impregnable fastness of Bamburgh Castle, the kings of Northumbria ruled a vast area, and held sway as High Kings of Britain. From the tidal island of Lindisfarne, extraordinary saints and learned scholars brought Christianity and civilization to the rest of the country. Now, thanks to the ongoing work of a dedicated team of archaeologists this story is slowly being brought to light. The excavations at Bamburgh Castle have revealed a society of unsuspected sophistication and elegance, capable of creating swords and jewellery unparalleled before or since, and works of art and devotion that still fill the beholder with wonder.

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An illustrated diary listing events and happenings in Ladywood for every day of the year Norman Bartlam’s long-awaited new book is a day by day collection of events and happenings in Ladywood from the last two centuries. The book is based on many hours of research into newspapers, magazines and logbooks, which have brought to light some forgotten episode’s in the area’s history, as well as serving as a reminder of how life was for its inhabitants in days gone by. Within its pages is something to appeal to all ages, and will provide a great source of nostalgia for all those who know and love Ladywood.

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The English reformers of the 1530s, with Thomas Cromwell at their head, continued to have a strong belief in kingly rule and authority, in contrast to their radical approach to the power of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. Resisting the king was tantamount to resisting God in their eyes, and even on a matter of conscience the will of the king should prevail. Yet just over 100 years later, Charles I was called the 'man of blood', and Oliver Cromwell famously declared that 'we will cut off his head with the crown on it'. But how did we get from the one to the other? How did the deferential Reformation become a regicidal revolution? Following on from his biography of Thomas Cromwell, John Schofield examines how the English character and the way it perceived royal rule changed between the time of Thomas Cromwell and that of his great-great-grandnephew Oliver.

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The records of the Sheffield Workhouse were destroyed in the bombing of Sheffield during the Second World War. However, using archive material, newspaper reports and the remaining Guardians’ minutes from 1890, this book reveals the story of this feared local institution. Famously contentious, the Sheffield Board of Guardians often went against the wishes of the Local Government Board, and even of their own workhouse staff. Containing the full and fascinating histories of Sheffield’s three workhouses (as well as the workhouse school and the attached farm), this book will captivate residents and visitors alike.

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Everyone remembers the Queen’s ‘Annus Horribilis’, but what do 'quid pro quo' and 'habeas corpus' mean? Why do plants have Latin names? Why do families, towns, countries and even football teams have Latin mottoes? What do the Latin epitaphs in churches say? What are the words of Mozart's 'Requiem'? These are just a few of the topics covered in this book. As Mark Walker makes clear, present-day English is still steeped in its Roman and Latin origins. As a result English still has many thousands of Latin words in everyday use. Caveat emptor!

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Ipswich Town’s Championship win of 1961/62 was one the greatest shocks in the history of professional football in England. No one could have conceived of how a small-town club would break into the top division of English football and take the Championship trophy at their very first attempt, a feat never achieved before or since. This is the story of that season in a match-by-match account set against the background of the news stories of the day. Also included is an analysis of the players, the team tactics and the manager Alf Ramsey, plus a statistical breakdown of the season.

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In 2007, journalist Nick Allen quit a secure job in Pakistan as a news agency writer to experience the life of foreign troops fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. Over several years he journeyed as an embedded reporter with a dozen armies, working his way through placid backwaters to remote, savage hotspots where daily clashes with insurgent forces were the norm. Driven by a desire to himself live and then convey some of the drama, tragedy, farce and sheer frustration experienced by soldiers and marines from California to Copenhagen, Allen returned again and again for ‘embeds’ with different contingents to explore a multinational effort that will surely define NATO’s future and events in South Asia, and the world, for many years to come. No other writer managed to gain such broad access to the forty-two-country Coalition that was deployed in Afghanistan, or produce an account that carries so much of the essence of soldiering in this inhospitable environment, where extremes of climate, treachery and enemy cunning have always defeated nations that dared to wage war in the ‘graveyard of empires.’ Embed explores the fragile calm of Bamiyan and its ancient sites and other low-intensity regions – usually ignored but a vital part of the overall picture – together with the ferocious clashes of Helmand, Kandahar, Kunar and other provinces. The author found that even the most sophisticated armed forces had been sucked into a fight they were ill-prepared for and, amid political uncertainty and dwindling public support back home, ultimately could not win.

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From heart-stopping accounts of apparitions, poltergeists and related supernatural phenomena, to first-hand encounters with phantoms and spirits, this collection of stories contains both new and well-known spooky tales from around Stirling. A whole chapter is dedicated to the mysterious goings-on at Stirling Castle, where cleaners in the King's Old Building claimed to have heard footsteps coming from the third floor — which hasn't existed since a fire in the nineteenth-century; while a 1930s photograph purports to capture the shadow of a phantom guardsman — possibly the same 'Highland Soldier' often reportedly mistaken by tourists for a castle guide.The town itself has no shortage of fascinating tales, including the story of the Old Town's most famous phantom, seventeenth-century merchant John 'Auld Staney Breeks' Cowane, whose spirit is said to inhabit his statue each Hogmanay. A playful ghost supposedly throws pots and pans around the kitchens of the Darnley Coffee House, while frequent power failures and mishaps in the Tolbooth Theatre — originally the eighteenth-century Burgh jail — are blamed upon the malicious spirit of the last man hanged, Alan Mair. Drawing on historical and contemporary sources, Haunted Stirling is guaranteed to intrigue and chill both believers and sceptics alike.

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Southern England. Late summer 1940. The nation is fighting for its very survival and the Luftwaffe's aerial offensive is unrelenting. All that lies between invasion and salvation for Britain is the 'thin blue line' of RAF Fighter Command and its pilots. This newly illustrated anniversary edition of Life as a Battle of Britain Pilot reveals what it was like to fly a fighter plane in the Battle of Britain. Who were the Spitfire and Hurricane pilots of 1940? How did they spend a typical day? And when pitched together in combat at 30,000 feet, which was the better machine - Spitfire or Me109? Read Life as a Battle of Britain Pilot and then ask yourself: would I have been up to the job?

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During the 1930s the popular press were carrying stories of a death ray that could disable aircraft, and it became such a popular notion that an investigation was carried out by a government scientist, Robert Watson-Watt. His discovery was that it was not that electro-magnetic waves could interfere with aircraft, but that aircraft could interfere with radio transmissions. The strategic importance of this was appreciated and a secret establishment was set up to develop a means of using radio transmissions to detect the approach of enemy aircraft – the birth of radar. As World War II broke out Ian Goult joined this elite group of scientists – aged only sixteen – as a lab assistant, working on GEE, a navigational aid allowing accurate location of targets. Its success allowed Bomber command to effectively navigate as far as the Ruhr.In Secret Location, Goult describes taking part in work on radar and microwave techniques that gave Britain supremacy in the air, and greatly improved submarine detection during the Battle of the Atlantic, saving thousands of tons of materiel and many lives. Told in an engaging style, this book offers a unique insight in those men whose achievements during the war have been underappreciated, but whose efforts were a key factor in the Allied victory. Postwar, Ian Goult was closely involved in the development of ground proximity warning systems and and the very first ATOL.

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From heart-stopping accounts of apparitions, manifestations and related supernatural phenomena, to first-hand encounters with phantoms and spirits, this collection of stories contains both new and well-known spooky tales from around Stockton. Drawing on historical and contemporary sources, Haunted Stockton contains a chilling range of ghostly phenomena sure to chill everyone interested in the supernatural history of the area to the bone.

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The people of Oxfordshire certainly know how to enjoy themselves, and take part in many varied and remarkable customs, sports and traditions that are held annually around the county. Some of these, like the May Morning and Beating the Bounds, go back for centuries but have been altered and adapted over the years. Others are relatively recent revivals, such as the agricultural show at Thame, which is Victorian in origin. The last fifty years has seen an unprecedented number of new celebrations, which have become traditions in their own right. Foremost among these are the Cropredy and Towersey folk festivals. Above all, these events are community-based and often also charity fund-raisers. Some of those featured here include the Bampton Great Shirt race, egg jarping at Chinnor, the Banbury Hobby Horse festival, Abingdon Morris Dancers Mock Mayor Elections, the Pumpkin Club, and the pub game Aunt Sally, which is virtually unknown outside of the county, among many others. Illustrated with 180 superb photographs, this book features funfairs and fêtes, celebrations and carnivals, games and shows, each one a unique celebration of Oxfordshire’s heritage.

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If you dream of country without caravans, where people are free to hunt foxes, smoke in pubs and where the Health and Safety Executive has been disbanded then this is the book for you. Speed Cameras, Ramblers, People Carriers... our country is going down the toilet and nobody in power seems to care - what can be done to make Britain great again?

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