Search results for ""The History Press Ltd""

From Ace to Zodiac - via the world-beating Land Rover, the thrilling Morgan Aeromax, the eternally young Mini Cooper and the unique London taxi - this is a celebration of the best British cars, old and new, in all their glorious diversity. Don't you believe it when people say there's no such thing as a 'British' car any more. As a nation, the calamity of British Leyland and MG Rover lingers in our collective conscience, but car factories in Britain today build some of the world's most advanced and desirable cars. Some of them have Japanese names, for sure, but then Ford was always more hamburger than roast beef, wasn't it? Britain's engineers, designers and entrepreneurs have for decades been the creators of motor cars with unique style and charm, from the Bentley 3-litre and Morris Minor Traveller of 'then' to the Aston Martin Vantage and Lotus Evora of 'now'. Inside, you'll find out about the country's 100 most significant models, boasting style, speed, ingenuity and The Right Stuff. They'll make you glad they're British!

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When Christine Cuss (née Pierce), was born in 1934, her doting father began a journal addressed to her. At first he recorded everyday details such as first teeth and family holidays, but as the 1930s progressed his words took on a more sinister tone, as Europe and the world prepared for war. As well as being a rare historical document, Notes to my Daughter shows another side to the Second World War. It was written by a man who was torn between his duty to his country and his duty to his family. In a poignant and heart-warming turn of events, at every crossroads Alexander Pierce chose his family, not least his only daughter, Christine. This little family is an example of the spirit and determination of the British people through difficult times. Old or young, the sentiments expressed in these love letters to a cherished child will not fail to touch and move all who read them, and open a window into the extraordinary life of an ordinary family.

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Jack the Ripper’s brutal murders have left an ineradicable stain on the gloomy streets of Whitechapel and surrounding area. Disturbingly, his infamous butchery was just one of many equally deplorable atrocities committed in the area, which collectively cast a shadow over the history of London’s East End and shocked the nation as a whole. Cases featured here include that of Henry Wainwright, tried in 1875 for the murder and dismemberment of his mistress, Harriet Lane; Polish-born Israel Lipski, charged with the murder of fellow lodger Miriam Angel in 1887; Myer Abramovitch, executed on 6 March 1912 for the gruesome double murder of Mr and Mrs Milstein at their home at Hanbury Street in 1911; and Harold Hall, who savagely murdered Kitty Roman with a penknife at Miller’s Court, Whitechapel in 1909, within sight of the room where Jack the Ripper’s final victim, Mary Kelly, was killed.

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Curious Buckinghamshire is a guide to over 100 unusual and extraordinary sights from all parts of the county. Featured here are tales of unsolved murders, witchcraft, hangings, poltergeists, ‘cunning men’, underground caves, backswording and riots, as well as myths, legends and folklore from around Buckinghamshire. Illustrated with a range of photographs and original drawings, Roger Long’s entertaining stories will inspire Buckinghamshire residents and visitors alike to greater exploration of both familiar and unknown sights of this historically rich and curious county.

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With a quarter of million cars a day crowding onto the M25, and millions more standing nose-to-tail on our A-roads, Britain is now officially Europe’s largest car park. In Germany it’s illegal to drive on a motorway at less than 37mph, but over here it can be a struggle even to reach such a speed during daylight hours. Over-stressed, over-taxed, with petrol at well over a pound a litre and the morning and evening rush hours merging into one, UK motorists have become the slaves of the machine rather than its master. People, even so, are still keen to go places – according to the Times the A–Z to of London is the most shoplifted book in Britain – and so far at least there’s not better way of doing it than by car. Written with the suffering millions in mind, Blood, Sweat and Tyres is the antidote.Casting a wry eye over the world of modern motoring, and highlighting some of its strangest and more bizarre aspects, it seeks to put the sheer awfulness of commuting into some kind of perspective. Or at least to give the victims – motorists, their passengers, friends and families – something funny to read and to reflect on whilst they join the queue. Find out: why the most successful Le Mans driver of all time wishes he could race a 90 year old lady; why the Fab Three bullied Ringo into selling his favourite French supercar and how big a forest your average football team would need to plant to offset the massive carbon footprint of all the gas-guzzlers in the players’ car park.

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For more than a thousand years the Afon Conwy – the River Conway to the English – provided a military gateway into the heart of North Wales, firstly for the legions of Rome and then the English armies seeking to subdue the people of Wales. In later, more peaceful times, it proved a seemingly impossible barrier to the spread of transport links which sought to open up new and improved communications with Ireland – a barrier that can prove troublesome even today. A Postcard from the Conwy takes the reader on a journey in words and pictures along the entire length of the river and its headwaters, using more than 200 old postcards from the authors’ extensive collections. It is a pictorial record of soaring mountains and tranquil lakes, majestic bridges and castles, houses great and small, sailing boats and steamers – all immortalised by past generations of photographers and artists for the benefit of innumerable tourists and travellers.

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This collection of old photographs and postcards provides the reader with a fascinating and informative guide to Chippenham and its history over the past hundred years. The book spans the expansion and development of the thriving market town by the River Avon from the nineteenth century to the present day. The history of the area is told through images of events as diverse as Queen Victoria's Jubilee and the recurrent floods throughout the town's past. The book chronicles the changing appearance of the town and follows themes such as the growth of the fire service and the participation and experience of Chippenham in the two world wars. The photographic material is accompanied by corresponding captions amassing to a wealth of historical detail. This tribute to Chippenham is sure to interest the casual visitor and to reawaken memories of long ago for local residents.

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This seasonal anthology of festive fare will delight Oxfordshire readers - and those further afield - during the season of goodwill, from Advent to Twelfth Night. Here are reminiscences of Christmases past at Blenheim Palace and Broughton Castle, and, contrastingly, the simpler pleasures enjoyed at Flora Thompson's rural Lark Rise. Cecil Day Lewis describes 'The Christmas Tree' in verse, and Henley's first peace-time celebrations after the end of the First World War are poignantly recounted. Pam Ayres and Mollie Harris mingle in this anthology with distinguished Oxford scholars, J.R.R. Tolkein, Robert Southey, John Donne and Joseph Addison, and share with us their experiences of yuletide. This book also includes ghost stories, local carols and traditions and folklore, including the ancient ceremony of bringing in the boar's head at Queen's College and the Boxing Day wren hunt. An Oxfordshire Christmas makes an ideal gift for all who know and love the county.

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This fascinating volume celebrates every aspect of Whitby's Gothic past. With a detailed exploration of the town's connection with Dracula (including historical events such as the beaching of the Dmitri and a visit to many of the book's most famous sites), it will delight all lovers of Gothic fiction. Featuring a complete tour of attractions including the abbey and the churchyard - and full details of the gargoyles, tombstones and many other strange carvings to be found there - it evokes Whitby as it was when Stoker visited. However, Dracula is not the only strange tale told in Whitby, and this volume also collects together many other local ghost stories and legends to make this a volume that no bookshelf in Whitby and far beyond will be complete without.

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For decades the high walls of Birmingham's Winson Green Gaol have contained some of the country's most infamous criminals. Until hanging was abolished in the 1960s it was also the main centre of execution for convicted killers from all parts of the Midlands. The history of execution at Winson Green Gaol began in 1885 with the execution of Henry Kimberley, who had shot dead a woman in a Birmingham public house. Over the next seventy-five years many notorious killers took the short walk to the gallows here. They include the poisoner 'nurse' Dorothea Waddingham, IRA terrorists Peter Barnes and James Richards, and child-killer Horace Carter.Winson Green also saw the execution of Stanley Hobday, the West Bromwich murderer apprehended following a pioneering nationwide appeal on the BBC wireless; former police officer James Power, who committed a brutal murder in the shadow of the prison walls; ruthless Staffordshire killer Leslie Green, who battered to death his former employer, and Ernie Harding, who, in 1955, became the last man hanged for child murder. Steve Fielding's highly readable new book features each of the forty cases in one volume for the first time and is fully illustrated with rare photographs, documents, news cuttings and engravings.

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Coronations are very public occasions, typically seen as meticulously planned formal ceremonies where everything runs smoothly. But behind the scenes at Westminster Abbey lie extraordinary but true stories of mayhem, confusion and merriment. In this book we travel through over a thousand years of England's history to reveal the real character of its kings and queens. Also packed with facts about how the service, traditions and accessories have changed over the years, Crown, Orb & Sceptre provides both a compelling read and an accessible and irreverent reference guide to one of the most spectacular ceremonies in England's heritage.

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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 the county of Essex. Drawing on historical and contemporary sources, Haunted Essex contains a chilling range of ghostly phenomena. From the well-known story of Robin the Woodcutter of Coggshall, to how Thundersley's 'Shrieking Boy's Wood' acquired its name, along with details of the horrific reign of Mathew Hopkins, Witchfinder General, this phenomenal gathering of ghostly goings-on is bound to captivate anyone interested in the supernatural history of the area.

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It may come as some surprise that in such a popular area of military history there is no book that focuses on the experience of the Victorian soldier - from recruitment to embarkation, fighting and perhaps returning, perhaps dying - in his own words. Dr Manning's meticulous research in primary sources gives the lie to the received image of the disciplined, redcoated campaigner of Victorian art and literature: for one thing, by the time he arrived at his destination, the coat would have been in rags. The distances covered on march were unbelievable, through desert and disease-ravaged swamp. Lavishly illustrated throughout, all the major Colonial campaigns and most of the minor ones are featured. To understand how what was in reality a tiny standing army controlled the largest empire the world has ever seen, this book is a must.

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This exhaustive and affectionate history is crammed with information and rare pictures from the famous Shepperton Studios. From assistants to directors, producers, stars, prop men, production managers and studio executives, the author has interviewed over 200 industry people and has painstakingly researched the history of the studio site from its first recorded use in the Doomsday Book through its redevelopment as one of Britain's first major film studios in 1932. The studio has housed classic movies featuring comedy great Will Hay, to blood-churning horrors starring Todd Slaughter through the studio's covert use during the Second World War as a camouflage manufacturing plant and on to its reopening with great classics such as The Third Man, The Tales Of Hoffman, Dr Strangelove and I'm All Right Jack, and on to modern greats such as Flash Gordon, Alien, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, The Crying Game, Chaplin, Gladiator, Troy, Batman Begins, The Da Vinci Code and The Golden Compass. This is their story.

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There can be no better example of Victorian enterprise than the amazing success story of Blackpool whose pioneering spirit embodied all the unflagging, indomitable confidence of that age - "He who dares wins". This was the watchword, and bold publicity coupled with diligent application of the town's motto "Progress" proved it to be true.There were great natural advantages: 7 miles of flat, golden sands washed twice daily by no ordinary sea but "the bounding main". With the help of the railways, equally confident and zealous, the workers were speedily brought from sprawling, industrial areas and once in, they were captivated. Here was splendour in buildings and interiors envisaged only in fairy tales. Here was safe bathing (all the rage) and the facilities that went with it. Here was a cornucopia of entertainment and daylong merriment extending into night. Every Bank Holiday after the opening of Blackpool Tower signalled some new and entrancing addition to the pleasure domes. The crowds came in their thousands year after year, as children, with their own children, and with their grandchildren, to "wonderful Blackpool, the most progressive resort under the flag".This book is a truly wonderful record of the growth of Blackpool into the national treasure it is today.

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Ely in Old Photographs is a wonderful collection of archive images that records the life of Ely through the ages. Chris Jakes takes us on a journey, looking at the city's life, streets and businesses during the Victorian and Edwardian periods, between the wars and in the postwar era. He also includes detailed information on the evolution of the drainage system in the surrounding fens, upon which the prosperity of Ely has always depended. It also shows the consequences of its failure, when nature has triumphed over man's ingenuity. The final section of the book takes a look at the group of small villages which lie within the city boundary, but which are some 2 to 7 miles distant from the city itself. They all have their own character and sense of community, and are proud to be both separate yet part of the whole. From Ely Cathedral to the River Great Ouse, this book covers the history and heritage of Ely and the surrounding area, using images to bring the past to life.

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The vivid accounts in this book are taken from the early days of tank warfare and give an idea of the crucial role that tanks played in breaking the murderous stalemate on the Western Front. This influence was acknowledged by friend and foe alike and, while not decisive, it certainly hastened the end of that dreadful conflict, saving thousands of Allied lives and ushering in a new era of mechanised warfare. David Fletcher, the editor, draws his material exclusively from the archives of the world famous Tank Museum at Bovington Camp, Dorset. His linking narrative guides us through the war, battle-by-battle, from 15 September 1916 to the Armistice, using first hand accounts of the tank actions. A wealth of original photographs showing the tanks and their crews, both in action and at rest, support these vivid accounts. Tanks and Trenches is an invaluable aid to our deeper understanding of the war on the Western Front, seen as it is through the eyes of those who were actually there.

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This is a terrifying collection of true-life tales of ghosts, poltergeists and spirits of all kinds in the streets, buildings and graveyards of York. Drawing on historical and contemporary sources, Haunted York contains a chilling range of ghostly phenomena. From the medieval stonemason who haunts York Minster to a re-incarnation mystery at St Mary's Church, the spectres of King's Manor, Micklegate Bar and Exhibition Square and the many spirits to be found in the city's public houses, this phenomenal gathering of ghostly goings-on is bound to captivate anyone interested in the supernatural history of York.

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This book is an entertaining romp through the history of our capital city from its origins as a simple market place in 50AD to the sprawling metropolis we know today. In it, the reader will discover many fascinating and unknown facts, ranging in timescale from the Romans to the twenty-first century. With chronological chapters dealing with themes such as royalty, politics, war, education, business and commerce, crime and punishment and transport, along with wonderfully illuminating accounts of the history of rhyming slang, words, street- and place-names, this is a revealing insight into London life through history. Other fascinating pieces of information on famous Londoners, famous firsts and events that shaped the city are also featured. Full of intriguing facts gathered from many years of research, this book will be a valuable addition to every Londoner's bookshelf.

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King John long ago acquired the epithet 'Bad,' and he is reputed to be the worst of England's kings. Before his death in 1216, his desperate exploitation of his subjects for ever more money had turned him into the mythical monster of Hollywood legend. In marked contrast to his brother Richard, John appeared incompetent in battle, failing to defend Normandy (1202-04), and was unsuccessful in recovering his lost lands in 1214. A continuing crisis was a constant need for money, forcing John to drain England of funds for campaigns in France, demanding unlawful and oppressive new taxes. Adding to his evil reputation was an ill-tempered personality and a streak of pettiness or spitefulness that led him to monstrous acts, including murdering his own nephew. King John's unpopularity culminated in a final crisis, a revolt by the English baronage, 1215-16, aimed at subjecting him to the rule of law, that resulted in his grant of Magna Carta.

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The many influences of the past on our diet today make the concept of 'British food' very hard to define. The Celts, Romans, Saxons, Vikings and Normans all brought ingredients to the table, as it were, and onwards the Crusades gave us all manner of spices. The Georgians enjoyed a new level of excess and then of course the world wars forced us into the challenge of making meals from very little. The post-war period brought convenience foods, and health issues which are being felt widely now. This is the first study of the rich history of our food, its fads and its fashions to be combined with a practical cookbook of over 200 recipes from each age for use today. Offerings include tasty beach BBQ ideas from Celtic times, a hearty Roman Army lentil stew and ideas for festive feasts from every period.

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Les Pugh is well known in the Stroud area for his absorbing memories that have appeared over the years in the Stroud News & Journal. Recalling life from the early 1900s, these columns have now been collated into this fascinating book giving a glimpse of a life few now remember. Ninety-three-year-old Les vividly recollects his childhood, particularly his schooldays at Eastington C of E School before he moved on to Marling Grammar School in Stroud. After leaving school he worked at R.A. Lister in Dursley for forty-nine years and recounts his fellow workers with admiration and kindness. Included are fond memories of his marriage to childhood sweetheart Peggy, their life together with daughter, Rosemary, and the hardship and community spirit of the war years.

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For over a thousand years Greenwich was the site of a thriving ship and boatbuilding industry. A variety of ships were built up and down the Thames, but it was here on the south bank of the river where London's shipbuilding evolved when the Royal Docks of Deptford and Woolwich were established by King Henry VIII, who's palace stood between the two at Greenwich. On Greenwich Peninsular, Greenwich Marsh, all types of river craft and sea-going vessels were once built, and the marsh area gradually became a vast commercial zone for the manufacture of all types of shipping and industrial commodities. The riverfront itself was filled with cranes, wharfages and ships loading or un-loading their cargoes. A multitude of river craft, from small rowboats to giant steamers, once made their way along this point in the river, and the boroughs of Greenwich, Deptford and Woolwich became synonymous with new technology and engineering.

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Human remains can answer all sorts of questions about our ancestors - what sort of diet they ate, what age they lived to, what sort of living conditions they experienced and how they died. The Neolithic is the earliest period from which significant numbers of human burials survive in Britain. This book looks at the history of the study of such burials and how new scientific techniques have massively expanded what we know about our Neolithic ancestors. As well as the treatment of the dead, issues such as health and subsistence are considered, along with evidence of conflict and also the extent to which the people of Neolithic Britain can be considered a distinct population. This is the only book specifically dedicated to human remains from the Neolithic and fills an important gap left by other books on the period.

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Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was one of the most notorious pirates ever to plague the Atlantic coast. He was also one of the most colourful pirates of all time, becoming the model for countless blood-and-thunder tales of sea rovers. His daring exploits, personal courage, terrifying appearance, and fourteen wives made him a legend in his own lifetime.The legends and myths about Blackbeard have become wilder rather than tamer in the 250 years since his gory but valiant death at Ocracoke Inlet. It is difficult for historians, and all but impossible for the general reader, to separate fact from fiction. Author Robert E. Lee has studied virtually every scrap of information available about the pirate and his contemporaries in an attempt to find the real Blackbeard. The result is a fascinating and authoritative study that reads like an exciting swashbuckler. Lee goes beyond the myths and the image Teach so carefully cultivated to reveal a new Blackbeard - infinitely more interesting as a man than as a legend. In the process, he has captured the spirit and character of a vanished age, ‘the golden age of piracy.’

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Wapping, once a vital part of the Port of London, has undergone many changes since the Second World War. Slum clearance, the closure of the docks and redevelopment have irrevocably altered the landscape of the area. This volume, combining the memories of over thirty people of Wapping during the earlier part of the twentieth century with a painstakingly researched historical narrative of the area, provides an important legacy of an age which has now vanished and a community which has changed forever. Whilst working as a GP in Wapping for twenty years, Martha Leigh became fascinated in the first-hand memories from people who had lived and worked in the area between the First and Second World Wars. As well as recreating a view of working-class life in an enclosed community during the period, the book covers the decline of the docks, family life, work, housing and leisure as well as tackling more esoteric subjects such health, gender roles and attitudes towards Jews.

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This creepy collection of true life tales takes the reader on a tour through the streets, cemeteries, alehouses, attics and docks of Liverpool. Drawing on historical and contemporary sources and containing many tales which have never before been published, it unearths a chilling range of supernatural phenomena, from the Grey Lady of Speke Hall to the ghost of John Lennon airport. Copiously illustrated with photographs, maps and drawings, this book will delight anyone with an interest in the supernatural history of the area. It is the first complete guide to the paranormal history of the region.

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Few kings deserve more than David I the reputation as ‘maker’ of his kingdom. Although overshadowed in popular memory by his descendant, the later ‘saviour’ of Scotland, Robert Bruce, it was David who laid the foundations of the medieval Scottish monarchy and set in train the changes that created the kingdom that vied with England for mastery of the British Isles. In a reign spanning nearly three decades, David moved his kingdom from the periphery towards the heart of European civilisation.

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Capitol Days is the story of the Capitol Cinema in Cardiff from its opening in 1921 through its heyday, its painful decline and eventual closure in 1978. Featuring many first-hand accounts and contemporary press cuttings, Capitol Days illustrates how both the public and significant figures reacted to the events of the day and analyses the motives behind some of the key decisions taken by the owners and proprietors. This book takes a fond look back at former times, when cinema truly lay at the heart of the community.The Capitol, due to its central location and distinctive decor, was more successful than most, and was often full to capacity both in the early days for hit films such as The Wedding Singer (1927) through to performances in the 1960s by Bob Dylan and The Beatles, and the live screening of Muhammed Ali’s fights during the same era. Contributions from many former employees of the cinema, together with many previously unseen photographs, bring this most remarkable venue to life, representing an important part of Cardiff ’s social history during the last century. Capitol Days is essential reading for both former visitors to the cinema and for those who wish to explore the tale behind the rise and fall of one of Cardiff ’s most recognisable centres of entertainment.

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Presents an alternative history of the last eighteen years of West Ham. With a commentary on each season alongside the best of the OLAS cartoons from that campaign, this book is a warts-and-all reflection of the view from the terraces, celebrating the frustrations of supporting the team and the pessimistic mindset of the long-suffering fan.

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Covering the lives and achievements of five English intelligence officers involved in wars at home and abroad between 1870 and 1918, this exceptionally researched book offers an insight into spying in the age of Victoria. Including material from little-known sources such as memoirs, old biographies and information from M15 and the police history archives, this book is a more detailed sequel to Wade's earlier work, Spies in the Empire. The book examines the social and political context of Victorian spying and the role of intelligence in the Anglo-Boer wars as well as case studies on five intriguing characters: William Melville, Sir John Ardagh, Reginald Wingate and Rudolf Slatin, and William Robertson. Responding to a dearth of books covering this topic, Wade both presents fascinating biographies of some of the most significant figures in the history of intelligence as well as a snapshot of a time in which the experts and amateurs who would eventually become M15 struggled against bias, denigration and confusion.

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Within these pages are accounts of Robert James Lees, the Ilfracombe spiritualist who claimed to have unmasked Jack the Ripper; Charles De Ville Wells, the Plymouth-based fraudster who famously broke the bank at Monte Carlo; Herbert Rowse Armstrong, the former Newton Abbot solicitor who remains the only member of his profession to be executed for murder; Lord Frederick Cavendish, the Duke of Devonshire's son who was assassinated in Dublin; Oscar Wilde, whose downfall was initiated by an incriminating letter sent from Babbacombe; and Robert Hichens, the helmsman of the Titanic who later in life was jailed for attempted murder in Torquay.

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Although Henry P. Folland never received the public acclaim accorded to the Spitfire and Hurricane's designers, more than 7,000 examples were built of the seventeen fighters he designed. His first biplane fighter, the Royal Aircraft Factory's S.E.5/5a, fought in the First World War with the Royal Flying Corps; his last, the 1934 Gloster Gladiator, equipped ten Royal Air Force Fleet Air Arm squadrons during the Second World War. Between the wars Henry Folland was responsible for the designs of fourteen other fighters, with Gladiators being exported to thirteen countries. Here Derek N. James, renowned aviation historian and author of nineteen books, relates the fascinating story of Henry Folland's days as a Lanchester Motor Co. apprentice and his move to Daimler Motor Co., which was to change his life, before his prolific sixteen years with Gloucestershire (Gloster) Aircraft Co. A major section of the book is devoted to the Gauntlet and Gladiator with special contributions by the test pilots who flew them. Detailed histories of all Folland's fighter designs are included, alongside an in-depth study of the man himself, and many of the 180 illustrations are previously unpublished.

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Memorable not for his life but his death, Edward V is probably better known as one of the Princes in the Tower, the supposed victim of his uncle, Richard III. This work presents to us the backdrop to this tragically short life - and reveals how he was both the hope of a dynasty and an integral cause of that dynasty's collapse.

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Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose is based in Cornwall, on the Lizard Peninsula. Its purpose is to train specialists for the Navy while serving the Fleet Air Arm's front line Sea King and Merlin helicopter squadrons. This book presents history of RNAS Culdrose from the initial planning of the base onwards.

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A guide to supernatural, paranormal, folkloric, eccentric and, above all, mysterious that has occurred on islands of Iona and Staffa. It includes entries covering Iona's tombstones, simulacra, standing stones, gargoyles, ruins, churches and archeological curiosities which are complemented by more than sixty photographs.

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More than a million people visit the Stonehenge World Heritage Site every year, pondering the stones and soaking up the surrounding landscape. When was it built? Who built it? What was it? How did it work? Here Timothy Darvill argues that around 2600 BC local communities transformed an existing sanctuary into a cult centre that developed a big reputation: perhaps as an oracle and healing place. For centuries people came from near and far, and even after activities at the site began to decline the memory lived on and people chose to be buried within sight of the stones. But Stonehenge itself is only part of a story that involves the whole landscape. People first came to the area during the last Ice Age nearly half a million years ago. Long before Stonehenge was built they were erecting posts, digging pits to contain sacred objects, and constructing long mounds to house their dead. By the Age of Stonehenge this was a heavily occupied landscape with daily life focused along the River Avon. Later, farms and hamlets were established, Roman villas came and went, and from about AD 1000 the pattern of villages dotted along the valleys and the town of Amesbury came to prominence. In the last hundred years or so the army established training grounds and camps, but the biggest battles in recent years have been over the future of the Stonehenge landscape.

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In Agatha Christie: The Finished Portrait, Dr Andrew Norman delves deep into the crime writer’s past to discover the desperate insecurity that sparked her disappearance in 1926. Agatha Christie suffered from recurrent nightmares where she was petrified that one or other of her family would be replaced by a terrifying figure called the ‘Gunman’ and lost to her forever. She was reminded of this figure both when her father died, and when her husband Archie demanded a divorce. This event precipitated such a crisis in Agatha’s mind that she became temporarily unhinged. She lost her memory and assumed a new identity: that of her husband’s mistress. Only now, thirty years after Agatha’s death, is it possible to explain fully, in the light of scientific knowledge, her behaviour during her troubled disappearance, when she lived incognito in a Harrogate hotel.One of Agatha’s novels, Unfinished Portrait, which is largely autobiographical, gives a unique insight into how the heroine, Celia (who is really Agatha in disguise), may have managed finally to rid herself of the Gunman and go on to lead a happier and more fulfilled life. By deciphering clues from this and her other works, Agatha Christie: The Finished Portrait sheds light on what is perhaps the greatest mystery of all to be associated with Agatha Christie, namely that of the person herself.

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Captain Stanley Lord and his vessel, the Californian, were accused of ignoring the Titanic's distress calls. This book offers an evidence which prompted the British Government to re-open the case surrounding Captain Lord and the Californian and proved that the captain and his ship could not have been the ship seen from the decks of the Titanic.

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Speedway continues to attract larger crowds season by season and television coverage is also on the increase. This work features each team and rider in British speedway, with a statistical review and illustrations from celebrated speedway photographer Mike Patrick.

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Roughly moving around the town along the old ‘figure of eight’ electric tram route that opened in 1906, this book rediscovers the lost world of the horse-drawn and electric trams through to trolleybuses and motorbuses operated by South Shields Corporation Transport. The Corporation boasted that there was no part of the town that was more than a quarter of an hour’s walk away from this route.

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Introduced in 1998, the smart car has revolutionised our cities. Over one million smarts have left the factory and the car itself has been a global success. Introduced in the UK in 2000, there are now over 50,000 smarts in the UK. This book looks at the impact of the smart car in the UK, and of its history and genesis beforehand.

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Air-route development in Africa was a result of Sir Alan Cobham's 1929 flight through and round Africa in a flying-boat. Lady Cobham accompanied her husband throughout the journey. This work features Sir Alan Cobham's account of his journey. First published in 1930, it is illustrated with over 50 photographs from the trip, from the family archive.

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Anne Neville was queen to England’s most notorious king, Richard III. She was immortalised by Shakespeare for the remarkable nature of her marriage, a union which brought together a sorrowing widow with her husband’s murderer. Anne’s misfortune did not end there. In addition to killing her first husband, Richard also helped kill her father, father-in-law and brother-in-law, imprisoned her mother, and was suspected of poisoning Anne herself. Dying before the age of thirty, Anne Neville packed into her short life incident enough for many adventurous careers, but was often, apparently, the passive instrument of others’ evil intentions. This fascinating new biography seeks to tell the story of Anne’s life in her own right, and uncovers the real wife of Richard III by charting the remarkable twists and turns of her fraught and ultimately tragic life.

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Independent Wales was defined in the centuries after the Romans withdrew from Britain in AD 410. The wars of Welsh independence encompassed centuries of raids, expeditions, battles and sieges, but they were more than a series of military encounters: they were a political process.

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The Lake District is famous for its magnificent scenery, but it is also an area that has been inhabited from early prehistoric times. This book by a former county archaeologist of Cumbria is both an introduction to the prehistoric archaeology of Cumbria and a field guide to the area. More than 100 Neolithic and Bronze Age sites are described, in particular the many conspicuous stone circles. There is new material on major sites such as the Swinside circle and previously unpublished information on both well-known and new sites. The whole work is illustrated by a fine range of photographs and plans.

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Clay soils make up significant areas of Britain and Europe, but until little archaeological investigation has been undertaken on such soils. This multi-authored volume, which brings together some of these investigations, with particular emphasis on the contribution of aerial photography, is widely used by undergraduates and postgraduates.

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Captain James Cook was one of the world's greatest explorers. He was born in 1728 in the tiny farming village of Marton in North Yorkshire, now part of modern Middlesbrough. This book presents an account of Cook's life. It examines his early life in Cleveland, up to the time he joined the Navy.

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