Search results for ""Fonthill Media""

Yards, crofts ginnels and lanes are found in many northern towns. Kendal’s yards are special and are fascinating to residents and visitors alike. They are a characteristic feature of the town and demonstrate the lively history of the people who lived and worked in them. Originating in the burgage plots of Norman times, they developed over the centuries into a maze of bustling little communities lined with cottages and workshops. Their old names tell of many interesting characters associated with them. With the slum clearances of the 1960s and other town development, their number has been drastically decreased. Today, they have become more of a tourist attraction but are still living and working places and tell engaging stories of their interesting past. In this book, the full story of Kendal’s Yards is told for the first time in fascinating detail - their history and development, the origins of their names, life in the old yards, their locations and much more. The illustrations in the text and the extensive Gallery of photographs provide 200 illustrations of most of the old yards which show better than mere words the atmosphere and character of the yards and the lives of their inhabitants.

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The German army faced tanks of superior size, armor and firepower from the outset of World War II. Although their Panzerwaffen handled the Polish campaign, war with France meant confronting superior heavy and medium tanks like the Char B and Somua, with 47 mm high velocity cannon that penetrated German tank armor with ease. French infantry disposed of effective antitank weapons and a portion of their 75 mm field guns were detailed as antitank guns. Even greater challenges emerged with the Russo-German War, for the Germans had no initial answer to the KV-1 heavy tank and T-34 medium. The successive technical shocks of superior tanks introduced by each side produced a gun-armor race that continued in some manner even after the war’s end. The Germans placed a premium on technological quality and superiority over mass production, for which their industry (and, arguably, their regime) remained rather unsuited. Not satisfied with the advantage they obtained with the Tiger and Panther series tanks, the army leadership and Adolf Hitler himself pushed for larger and more powerful tanks than had ever been built.

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On 10 May 1940, the French possessed one of the largest air forces in the world. On paper, it was nearly as strong as the RAF. Six weeks later, France had been defeated. For a struggling French Army desperately looking for air support, the skies seemed empty of friendly planes. In the decades that followed, the debate raged. Were there unused stockpiles of planes? Were French aircraft really so inferior? Baughen examines the myths that surround the French defeat. He explains how at the end of the First World War, the French had possessed the most effective air force in the world, only for the lessons learned to be forgotten. Instead, air policy was guided by radical theories that predicted air power alone would decide future wars. Baughen traces some of the problems back to the very earliest days of French aviation. He describes the mistakes and bad luck that dogged the French efforts to modernise their air force in the twenties and thirties. He examines how decisions made just months before the German attack further weakened the air force. Yet defeat was not inevitable. If better use had been made of the planes that were available, the result might have been different.

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From humble beginnings as a `barefoot boy’ in a small town in the heart of South Africa, he learned to mix with presidents and prime ministers, with royalty and popes, and quickly embraced the high-life of the jet-set who surrounded him. Throughout life, he was a serial womanizer, bedding famous European film stars (and their secretaries). He survived three tempestuous marriages and divorces, each wife becoming younger than the last until their age difference reached 40 years. This scientifically-trained surgeon called on the services of a `witchdoctor’ (a sangoma)—unsuccessfully—to help punish those who had contributed to the break-up of his second marriage. With no experience himself, he trained his daughter to become the second-ranked water skier in the world, though he was disappointed she never became world champion. Perhaps the immense effort he put into driving her to success accounted for the relative neglect of his oldest son, who, as a young doctor, suffered increasing depression until he died of a drug overdose at an early age. The surgeon pursued his goals in heart surgery despite a lifetime of pain from arthritis and a disability from asthma, which might eventually have killed him. Having established the first major heart surgery programme in Africa, he eventually became distracted by other interests until he was a mere shadow in his own department. Yet he remained in the public eye through his gifts for public speaking and as a writer. He travelled the world, published two autobiographies, wrote popular books on health for the public, particularly relating to heart disease and arthritis, and penned books on such varied subjects as the politics of apartheid in his homeland, and euthanasia. He became a well-regarded and popular columnist for several South African newspapers, and collaborated on the writing of four novels. He branched into the business world and expanded the meagre financial rewards earned from his surgical services to the South African health care system by investing in restaurants in Cape Town, establishing a game reserve in the hinterland of South Africa, and causing controversy by his role in advertising a cream that reputedly prevented wrinkling of the skin. He set up a heart research foundation and a foundation that paid for children from all over the world to travel to Cape Town for corrective open heart surgery. This charismatic and controversial man was Chris Barnard who, by the way, also dared to carry out the world’s first human heart transplant in December 1967. Can we summarize Chris Barnard? Not very easily. He was a first-class doctor—skilled, knowledgeable, compassionate, conscientious, concerned, decisive, and wise. He was an inquiring and innovative surgeon—though famously irascible in the operating room—with a vision of the future developments in his chosen field, and the ability, judgment, and courage to play a part in contributing to those developments. He was an informative and highly entertaining speaker and raconteur, a gifted writer, farmer, restaurateur, an unofficial ambassador for his country—and a good friend.

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Volume 3, officers with surnames R to W. In the turbulent times of the post-World War One era, new political parties emerged frequently in Germany, many with opposing extremist policies. The Communist movement grew out of the Socialist working classes using the Russian Bolshevik Party as a template. In direct opposition, the new National Socialist German Workers Party under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, occupied the extreme right-wing position. Head on conflict was inevitable and both parties organised violent demonstrations against the other. Hitler recognised that he was physically vulnerable and ordered the formation of his own protection squad, made up of loyal men who would not shirk from a fight. From the rudimentary ranks of Hitler's select few grew the infant SS, a modern praetorian guard, which developed over the years into a massive and efficient military style force with tentacles spreading into all elements of everyday life in Nazi Germany. To administer this organisation, Hitler appointed leaders upon whom he could rely. Many names remain obscure, but this book highlights who they all were and how they appeared.

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This volume carries on where FIRST OF THE FEW finished, in the same style and format. 10 July-the official first day of the Battle of Britain-witnessed increased aerial activity over the Channel and along the eastern and southern seaboards of the British coastline. The main assaults by ever-increasing formations of Luftwaffe bombers, escorted by Bf109s and Bf110s, were initially aimed at British merchant shipping convoys plying their trade of coal and other materials from the north of England to the southern ports. These attacks by the Germans often met with increasing success although RAF Spitfires and Hurricanes endeavoured to repel the Heinkels, Dorniers and Ju88s, frequently with ill-afforded loss in pilots and aircraft. Within a month the Channel was effectively closed to British shipping. Only a change in the Luftwaffe's tactics in mid-August, when the main attack changed to the attempted destruction of the RAF's southern airfields, allowed small convoys to resume sneaking through without too greater hindrance.

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At the beginning of the Second World War, RAF Acklington was the most important fighter station in north-east England. It started life in 1938 as a training base for RAF aircrew, but after the outbreak of hostilities it was given the role of protecting the skies over Newcastle and its important industrial hinterland. Acklinton's Spitfires and Hurricanes were soon in action against German bombers, as many of the earliest air raids of the war took place over this part of Britain. Due to the importance of this region, with its major ports and industries, it continued to attract the attention of enemy bombers long after the Battle of Britain had been won. By late 1940, most of the attacks took place after dark and RAF Acklington became the host for night fighter squadrons. Unlike many military airfields, it did not close when hostilities ceased, reverting first to its training role, and then becoming the base for fighter aircraft, before closing in the early 1970s.

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Volume Nine begins with the death of the diarist's wife, Margaret, after a marriage of almost 42 years. Margaret's health had always been delicate and she finally declined and died of dropsy-what today might be referred to as an edema due to congestive heart failure. Margaret had never been a lively or outgoing person, but it had been a marriage of money and the Backhouse resources restored the Witts family's fortune and provided the foundation to the substantial estate that Francis Witts left to his son Edward when he, the diarist, also died four years later. Francis Witts was lonely and reflective in his final years. His own health was not good and he predicted, correctly that it was the heart. On 4 May 1854 he put his thoughts to his diary: 'But, in truth, the continued, if not increased, difficulty of breathing, makes me satisfied that there is some serious mischief near or about the heart: it may be organic; and the end may come at no distant period: may I be then found not ill-prepared; resigned, patient, and penitent as the clouds gather around me!' In between the periods of indifferent health he roused himself to visit old friends and relations and he made several visits to London, especially at the time of the Great Exhibition in 1851. Francis Witts longed for visits from Edward, Sophy and his grandsons, and the sadness he felt at not getting enough of their time is painfully clear in these last years. At last he found a curate to aid him in his clerical duties, but it was all too late. In the presence of his curate at lunch on 18 August 1854 the ultimate mischief occurred. The previous day he had written the final words in his diary: 'Received from C. J. Geldard a present of two brace of Moor game.' He did not live to enjoy them, and his diaries extending 56 years came to close.

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The definitive book on an iconic aircraft. Illustrated throughout with a varied and interesting selection of images, many previously unpublished. An early jet aircraft that collected many notable firsts including the first jet fighter to cross the Atlantic and the first jet to land on an aircraft carrier. Comprehensive appendices covering serial allocations, production, export details and preserved airframes. The de Havilland Vampire was the second of the RAF's first-generation, post-Second World War jet fighters to enter service. It began life as an interceptor but was soon re-tasked in the day fighter/ground attack roles with the 2nd Tactical Air Force in Germany from 1948 to 1954 and with the RAF's Middle and Far East Air Forces. Throughout its forty-six-year career, it collected many notable firsts: it was the first jet fighter to cross the Atlantic; the first jet to land on an aircraft carrier; and the first jet trainer on which student pilots qualified for their 'Wings'. In addition to playing a full part in the RAF's order of battle during the 1940s and 1950s, the Vampire also served with the Fleet Air Arm and became an export success story for the British aircraft industry with hundreds sold to air forces worldwide. For a brief period during the 1950s, the Vampire formed the backbone of the RAF's night-fighter force and between 1952 and 1967 the Vampire trainer was responsible for a steady flow of trained pilots for the RAF, Royal Navy and foreign air forces. This comprehensive history covers the Vampire's development and operational service. It has been written with the full co-operation of the manufacturer, MoD, RAF and other world air forces, mixing narrative and technical detail with vivid personal accounts from those involved with the aircraft. Comprehensive appendices include technical specifications, production details, serials and export details. It is also lavishly illustrated and includes more than one story of encounters with UFOs by RAF Vampire pilots.

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Northern 'Q': The History of Royal Air Force, Leuchars takes its title from the long standing primary role as one of the oldest airfields in the UK. Leuchars began its links with military aviation as far back as 1911 with the arrival of the Royal Engineers who established a balloon squadron for reconnaissance training. Following the outbreak of war in 1939, the station was identified as an ideal location to launch maritime operations under Coastal Command. By the end of the war, Leuchars, like so many other airfields, was under the threat of redundancy as many airfields were rendered surplus to requirements. The developing international situation placed a shift in defence with the Cold War and Leuchars was once more deemed to be in an ideal and vital position. From 1950, this corner of north-east Fife has been on permanent guard with every type of operational interceptor in RAF service. Now politics from austerity to Scottish independence, rather than sound judgement, is setting the agenda as the RAF leave for Lossiemouth in Moray.

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For the first time, a book exposes an obscure theatre of the First World War in great detail and comprehensively, not just in terms of geography but also from the perspectives of both Allied and Axis participants. 'U-Boats off Bermuda' provides details of specific U-Boat patrols and their commanders, as well as a general overview of the situation in the theatre of war around Bermuda. It is a detailed analysis of individual casualties, broken down by a) background of ship, b) background of U-boat, c) attack method (surface and/or submersed), d) details of survivors and their plight at sea and e) their rescue, recuperation and repatriation.Detailed maps and illustrations provide a human face to what were often tragic attacks with fatal consequences. Did you know that half a dozen German submarines came close enough to the Naval Operating Base in Bermuda to see Gibbs Hill? Or that hardy Canadians from a sunken trading schooner rowed and sailed their way to the remote island-on their own? Allied pilots based in Bermuda sank two German U-Boats, rescued dozens in daring water landings, and several crashed.

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Pink Floyd Song by Song takes a fresh look at the songs which led to Pink Floyd becoming the third best-selling band of all time. From 'Arnold Layne' to 'Louder Than Words', Pink Floyd wrote about anger, isolation, regret, dismay, and fear. These themes, not always obvious starting points in popular music, were married to a rare dynamism in rock music. Pink Floyd's most successful period critically and musically-the eight albums from 1970 to 1983-combine the pithy lyrics of Roger Waters, the soulful voice and breath-taking guitar solos of David Gilmour and, until 1979, the jazz influenced piano and keyboard abilities of the late Richard Wright. These three together wrote the band's best work, usually in combinations of twos and threes but also individually. When working together as equals, the three principals of Pink Floyd were significantly more than the sum of their individual strengths.

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'Time Flies: Reflections of a Fighter Pilot' retells the exploits of David Hamilton's thirty years of service in the Royal Air Force. He had a wide and varied career; flying Lightnings to defend UK airspace, operating from HMS Ark Royal in F-4 Phantoms, and defending the Inner German Border from RAF Wildenwrath. In the UK MoD he was a staff officer responsible for the Eurofighter project. He served in the First Gulf War, as the commander of a Tornado F3 Squadron deployed in Saudi Arabia, and worked as General Sir Peter de la Billiere's air advisor afterwards. He flew with and was supervisor of the Red Arrows. In NATO's Brussels Headquarters, he served as a Group Captain, formulating the Rules of Engagement for the Bosnian air campaign, and then became the deputy station commander at RAF Leuchars. Hamilton also led the Tornado F3 four-ship flypast over Edinburgh Castle as the Stone of Destiny returned to Scotland on 30 November 1996, before taking early retirement from the RAF to work in the defence industry on the Eurofighter project.

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Brothers William and Ben Jowett, of Bradford, Yorkshire, built their first car in 1906 and tested it for four years before going into car production in 1910. By the time the factory switched to First World War munitions work, in 1916, forty-eight cars had been built. They resumed car production in 1920, and sales went from strength to strength. The 1930s proved to be a much more difficult time for Jowett, as a devastating fire in 1930 destroyed the factory and almost their entire stock of new cars. The brothers then had to decide whether or not they should rebuild the factory and start car manufacturing again-luckily, they did, as many interesting models were produced during this decade. From the first car in 1906, all cars the Jowetts produced were powered by the famous flat-twin engine known as 'the little engine with the big pull' that was used in all cars and light commercial vehicles. In 1935, the range was expanded to include a four-cylinder horizontally opposed engine, and they used these two engines in various models until the Second World War.

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On the night of 20 November 1914, everything pointed to the likelihood of invasion by a German army, whisked across the North Sea on a fleet of fast transports. The Royal Navy's Grand Fleet prepared to sail south from remote bases in Scotland; shallow-draught monitors were moored in the Wash; and 300,000 troops stood by to repel the enemy on the beaches. Fortunately, the night passed without incident. For thirty years prior to the First World War, writers, with a variety of motivations, had been forecasting such an invasion. Britain regarded the army as an imperial police force and, despite the experience gained in military exercises involving simulated invasions, the Royal Navy was still expected to fulfil its traditional role of intercepting and destroying enemy forces. However, as the technology of warfare developed, with the proliferation of ever more powerful warships, submarines, mines, and torpedoes, alongside the added promise of aerial assault, it became obvious that these long-established notions of the Navy's invincibility might no longer be realistic. The perceived threat of invasion, whether justified or not, persisted throughout the First World War, and this book describes the measures taken to protect Britain against enemy attack by land, sea, or air.

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Up to and during the First World War, the Royal Navy was at the forefront of developments in aviation: concerned not just with the use of military aircraft to defend the fleet, but also securing the homeland against Zeppelin raiders and undertaking tactical air strikes into enemy territory. With the aeroplane a totally new and revolutionary weapon, the work of several experimental airfields and seaplane stations became crucial to the success of these operations. Taking the lead role were Felixstowe and the Isle of Grain, where work on the development of new aircraft and aerial weapons was handled, alongside ground-breaking advances in navigational systems, air-to-ground radio communication, and deck-board ship landings. These two air stations (as well as others with a more minor role) witnessed a huge scale of expenditure and the assembly of an elite group of experts and hotshot pilots who, in pushing the envelope to the extreme, sometimes sacrificed their own lives. The work of these experimental stations has been more or less forgotten, a result of the Royal Naval Air Service having been subsumed into the Royal Air Force, and the subsequent emphasis on the aeroplane as a weapon of land warfare. In this First World War anniversary period, it is a story that needs telling.

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2016 will be the 80th anniversary of the maiden voyage of one of the greatest of all ocean liners. The QUEEN MARY, constructed in the 1930s, sailed until 1967 and today lives on as a museum & hotel in southern California, is also one of the most famous ocean liners of all time. She was also heroic, serving valiantly in wartime, and altogether crossed the Atlantic more than 1000 times. Also, she was beloved favored by passengers and crew alike. Hollywood stars, as another example, just preferred the QUEEN MARY. She had an undefinable chemistry "Something in the woodwork that embraced everyone," according to one staff member. She was also part of Cunard, perhaps the most famous shipping line on the Atlantic. Along with a history of the QUEEN MARY, this book will look at her running-mate, the QUEEN ELIZABETH, as well as the subsequent QUEENS the QE2 and the current day QUEEN MARY 2, QUEEN VICTORIA & QUEEN ELIZABETH. This book will be a salute to the QUEEN MARY, but also to the great QUEENS and to Cunard itself."

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By the end of 1941, following its participation in the Battle of Britain, 249 was posted to Malta. Having been informed that its pilots would be required to fly from the deck of an aircraft carrier, intensive practice flights took place with two Hurricanes fitted with long-range tanks, making shortened take-off runs from an airfield runway. And that was that. The following month, having been ferried to Gibraltar, the aircraft were off-loaded on to the 'Ark Royal' and all 20 safely reached Malta. This was the beginning of 249's Mediterranean adventure in the defence of Malta. Spitfires would follow early in 1942 and by the time it moved to a new theatre of operations, 249 had claimed 245 air victories in the skies over Malta, producing many ace pilots such as 'Screwball' Beurling, Laddie Lucas, Johnny Plagis, John Lynch, to name but a few.

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This latest book from John Van der Kiste, the eminent historian of European royalty, is an account of Queen Victoria's personal and political relationships with the empires, or to be more exact, the Kings and Queens, Emperors, Empresses and their families of France, Germany, Austria and Russia. Victoria had close connections with the royal houses of Germany long before the King of Prussia became the German Emperor in 1871, and with the exiled former Emperor and Empress of the French and their son, the Prince Imperial, after the fall of the French Empire in 1870. Van der Kiste deftly weaves together the various strands of the relationships-including the close family marriage ties-to provide a fascinating picture of European royalty in the last two thirds of the nineteenth century.

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Britain's Cold War Bombers explores the creation and development of the jet bomber, tracing the emergence of the first jet designs (the Valiant and Vulcan) through to the first-generation jets which entered service with the RAF and Fleet Air Arm. Each aircraft type is examined, looking at how the design was created and how this translated into an operational aircraft. The basic development and service history of each type is explained, with a narrative which links the linear appearance of each new design, leading to the present day and the latest generation of Typhoon aircraft. Other aircraft types covered are the Canberra, Sperrin, Victor, Scimitar, Buccaneer, Nimrod, Phantom, Sea Harrier, Jaguar, Tornado GR1/4 and Typhoon.

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Philip Astley first pegged out his circular 'ride' on the banks of the Thames in 1768 and so laid down the foundations of the modern circus. Performing feats of trick riding with his wife Patty Jones, little did he realise that before long women would become a dominant force in the circus. Sawdust Sisterhood explores how the circus empowered women and gave them the opportunity to compete and succeed as performers in their own right in an otherwise masculine world. Drawing upon historical news reports and contemporary interviews, the book explores the lives of female circus performers and focuses upon several of the more well-known artistes from across two centuries of circus, including; Madame Saqui, the renowned French wire-walker of the early nineteenth century; Nellie Chapman, the Victorian 'Lion Queen' of Wombwells's Menagerie and Circus; and Katie Brumbach, otherwise known as Sandwina, perhaps the most famous Strongwoman of the twentieth century. Sawdust Sisterhood acknowledges the role of the female circus performer across the centuries.

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A comprehensive history of the Second World War Fighter Command airfield at RAF Drem located near Edinburgh. It was one of Scotland's most important airfields in this conflict. Its predecessor, the Royal Flying Corps Gullane air station is included in the account. When war broke out in 1939 among the first targets attacked by the Luftwaffe was the Royal Navy base at Rosyth. The Spitfires at RAF Drem were scrambled to protect this vital installation and were engaged in some of the first air battles over Britain. The exploits of its pilots received much attention from the press at the time. By mid-1940, much of the fighting had gravitated to the south of England. Spitfires and Hurricanes based at Drem would, however, continue to patrol the skies over the Firth of Forth until the end of the war. Night fighter squadrons were also based here, first flying the Blenheim and later the Mosquito. Appropriately the Drem lighting system for assisting the landing of aircraft at nightwas invented here. The Fleet Air Arm also had a presence at RAF Drem, with a squadron for the training of night fighter pilots. The airfield ended the war on a high note when three white painted Ju 52s arrived with German generals to surrender their forces in Norway. Like many other military airfields, Drem closed shortly after the end of hostilities and the runways were ploughed up and returned to agriculture.

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Spain (1936-9), China (1937 onwards), Mongolia (1939), Finland (1939-40) and France (1939-40) were a testing ground for a new approach to air tactics with western democracies and totalitarian states analyzing the resulting lessons. Attention in Air Wars 1920-1939: The Development and Evolution of Fighter Tactics is given to the means by which intelligence on aerial tactics was collected and why it was not always fully absorbed, resulting in many nations having to relearn the same lessons at the outset of the Second World War. Finland, during the Winter War, while not involved in Spain or any other air war of the time, better applied the lessons being learned than that of the Soviet Union, which had been directly involved in air wars fought over China, Mongolia and Spain. In the case of Britain, not only were the lessons of Spain ignored, but so too that of its own experimental fighter unit, the AFDE (Air Fighting Development Establishment) that had been formed in 1934 and which was reinforcing the intelligence received from those real air war conflicts."

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This album of 160 colour photographs was taken in the Southern Region of B.R., which was formerly the lines constituting the Southern Railway. Bill Reed took the pictures between 1958 and 1967 during a number of visits to stations, sheds and areas offering attractive vantage points of locomotives. From Greater London in the north, at sheds and stations including Bricklayers Arms, Feltham and Victoria, to Brighton, Southampton and Bournemouth on the south coast. Dover and Folkestone in the south east were visited as well as Exeter, Yeovil and Wadebridge on the south west. The Isle of Wight is also included as the area was incorporated into the S.R. upon Grouping and later the Southern Region of B.R. This book contains a selection of photographs taken on numerous branch lines around the region and these are particularly evocative of the final years of steam under B.R. operation. From a modern perspective they also give an indication why there was such an eagerness on the part of B.R. for their closure. Many of the lines utilized locomotives that had been in service for a number of years and were perhaps coming to the end of their life span.

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In the summer of 1793 the Witts family arrived in Edinburgh for a stay of five years. A previously well-to-do Oxfordshire/Gloucestershire family they were brought to near penury brought the failure of Edward Witts' woollen cloth trading business. Apart from the stigma of bankruptcy, their easy style of living was brought crashing down to a mere few hundred annually-the income from their marriage settlement which Edward's creditors could not get their hands on. Within a few months Edward and Agnes had built a wide circle of friends and acquaintance in the upper echelons of Edinburgh society where Agnes's magnetic personality worked its usual magic. Agnes Witts was a remarkable woman with great zest for life. She required constant amusement and bored easily. Her favourite pastimes were cards and stimulating conversation, her social circle was wide and well-connected, her attachment to her faith consistent and strong. In a remarkable series of sixty-two diaries covering the years 1788-1824 Agnes Witts recorded her life in a structured and unvarying manner. She noted the weather, the doings of the day and letters received and written. A day without a letter was a dark day in her life.She loved to maintain a wide correspondence among a large circle of family, friends and acquaintance. Commencing on 20 April 1788 the diaries hardly miss a day and the final entry is for Christmas Day 1824, just two weeks before her death at the age of seventy-six. Gaps in the diary are very few and usually occur only during times of serious illness. The diaries reproduced here record the period 1793 to 1798 providing a snapshot of Edinburgh society at a time of remarkable change when the City was rising to prominence as the 'Athens of the North'. Enlightenment Edinburgh was a dynamic place-a growing city that was looking forward to a prosperous future. Agnes's diaries provide a fascinating glimpse into the mid-to-upper social fabric at that time.

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Edward IV, (1442-1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death on 9 April 1483. In a turbulent world marred by civil war, Edward, 4th Duke of York-with good title to the throne-overthrew the corrupt government of the weak and feeble-minded Henry VI, setting the foundation stones for a strong and prosperous England. He was an able and successful king who rescued England from the misery of war and created her with a firm, judicious and popular government. Like his grandson, Henry VIII, he was tall and handsome as a young man. Also like his grandson he was pleasure-loving, and in his later years he was increasingly arbitrary and avaricious. Notwithstanding this, he proved capable of creating a successful and highly personal monarchy which in many ways set the scene for the Tudor monarchs who ruled throughout the sixteenth century through the bloodline of his eldest daughter, Elizabeth. Cora L. Scofield's two volumes are a magisterial record of this reign. Although other biographies have appeared, none have replaced this solid work of scholarship.In his authoritative and best-selling biography of Edward IV in 1975, Professor Charles Ross said '. ..my attempt ...has necessarily involved some foreshortening, and for details one must still refer to Miss C. L. Scofield's elaborate ...account of Yorkist foreign policy.'

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Twenty-six-year-old American Ernest Pope arrived in Munich as a Reuters correspondent in in 1936. From then until he left in the summer of 1940 he saw first-hand the wild excesses of the Nazis. He wrote mainly for British newspapers-notably the Daily Express-but after September 1939 he could only supply material to the USA as lines to Britain were closed. As events hotted up he left for home just two months prior to America's entry to the war. Back in the safety of the United States he spent six months writing down what he had seen and who he had met. With wicked wit and superb style he ridicules the Nazis, showing them up for what they truly were-boorish and evil thugs. His narrative reads like a sensational novel, but for the poor inhabitants of Germany the unbelievable was in fact everyday life. Pope knew, saw or interviewed all the top Nazis and dozens of lower-level officials, including some of Hitler's security men. Fluent in Bavarian German dialect, Pope made many friends in Munich with citizens and officials alike. He heard jokes from Munichers that could get them thrown in a concentration camp and he poked fun at Nazis whenever he dared. Munich Playground is a 'must read' for anyone who wishes to understand what Hitler's Third Reich was really like.

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"In this state of mind, which excludes any falsehood, I declare that not a single word of what I have written in my diaries is false or exaggerated or dictated by selfish resentment. It is all just what I have seen and heard. And if, when making ready to take leave of life, I consider allowing the publication of my hurried notes, it is not because I expect posthumous revaluation or vindication, but because I believe that honest testimonial of the truth in this sad world may still be useful in bringing relief to the innocent and striking at those who are responsible."Count Galeazzo Ciano was foreign minister in Fascist Italy from 1936 until 1943. He was also Mussolini's son-in-law. This fascinating diary gives a day to day account of this passage through the war, his meetings with the Duce and other key figures of the conflict including Hitler and Von Ribbentrop. It becomes, in effect, a history of Italy under Mussolini. But the story does not end happily. Ciano was dismissed as Foreign Minister in 1943 after his involvement in a plot to depose Mussolini, as the Italian war effort began to crumble in the wake of allied invasion from the South.Under pressure from the Nazi's he was executed by firing squad in Verona in January 1944. Nonetheless, his diaries provide an unique and perceptive insight into this remarkable period of history, from a man that did not embrace war as many of his colleagues did.

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`The Last Years of Steam Around the East Midlands’ covers most of the railways across the county and the locomotives that worked over them. In the main, the time period covers the ten years or so from the late 1950s up to the end of steam working in the East Midlands. In addition to steam locomotives, their diesel replacements will also be shown. A number of industrial locations will also be visited, and in particular, the book explores the now-closed Ironstone Railways of the East Midlands. The photographs, a mixture of colour and black and white, come mostly from those taken by the author and his late father, with the balance coming from his father’s old friends. Most of the photographs have never been published, with all images accompanied by an extensive and informative commentary.

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Key Selling Points: Have you ever wondered what it was like to fly the Phantom? This is not a potted history of an aeroplane, nor is it Hollywood glamour as captured in Top Gun. This is the story of life on the frontline during the Cold War told in the words of a navigator who flew the iconic jet. Unique pictures, many captured from the cockpit, show the Phantom in its true environment and show why for many years the Phantom was the envy of NATO. It also tells the inside story of some of the problems which plagued the Phantom in its early days, how the aircraft developed, or was neglected, and reveals events which shaped the aircraft's history and contributed to its demise. Anecdotes capture the deep affection felt by the crews who were fortunate enough to cross paths with the Phantom during their flying careers. The nicknames the aircraft earned were not complimentary and included the 'Rhino', 'The Spook', 'Double Ugly', the 'Flying Brick' and the 'Lead Sled'. Whichever way you looked at it, you could love or hate the Phantom, but you could never ignore it for its sheer power and lethal payload.The Phantom in Focus: A Navigator's Eye on Britain's Cold War Warrior is unique in that the author flew in the legendary Phantom in the front line and captured beautiful and amazing unpublished photographs that will appeal to historians, military specialists and modellers alike.

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For historians of the Wars of the Roses William Shakespeare is both a curse and a blessing: a curse because he immortalized Tudor spin on fifteenth-century civil wars that helped justify Elizabeth I's occupation of the English throne; a blessing because, without Shakespeare's 8 -play Plantagenet history cycle, hardly anyone beyond specialists in the history of the period would know of their existence. Moreover, no mere historian will ever paint a more compelling and dramatic picture of England's Lancastrian and Yorkist kings, and the Wars of the Roses, than William Shakespeare.The book begins with an examination of the context, content and significance of each of the plays from Richard 2nd to Richard 3rd, and then considers the contemporary, near-contemporary and Tudor sources on which Shakespeare drew; how such authors chose to present 15th Century kings, politics and society; and in what ways historians since Shakespeare have sought to reinterpret the Wars of the Roses era. The book ends with a retrospective assessment of Shakespeare's Plantagenet plays, both in performance and as a result of their impact on historical writing.The Plays: Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Henry V, Henry VI Parts I1, 2 and 3 and Richard III.

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Edward IV (king from 1461-83), so often overshadowed by his younger brother and eventual successor Richard III is a controversial figure in his own right. Was he a lazy and licentious lightweight who much preferred his mistresses to his minsters and had little taste for the arduous day-to-day business of government? Or was he, rather, a wise and successful monarch who laid the foundations for over a century of Tudor rule? This documentary study by the co-author of Richard III in the same series, presents contemporary and near-contemporary sources for Edward IV and his reign, enabling the reader to appreciate why the king's reputation has fluctuated so markedly, and provides and indispensable compendium for all who wish to enter the political world of Yorkist England.

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"I was following orders." The answer most commonly quoted by SS men accused of atrocious crimes after Germany had surrendered in 1945. But who gave those orders? Who was the mastermind behind the sophisticated machinery which allowed men from normal family backgrounds to kill on such a scale? The right man at the right time, fate steered Heinrich Himmler to take control of an organisation destined to carry out Hitler's racial policies. This study not only sets out in detail how Heinrich Himmler's daily routine allowed him to implement Nazi strategy, but it also provides illustrations of the man behind much of it, both at work and at home. Of all the personalities of history demonized by post-war writers, Heinrich Himmler ranks among the most reviled. His legacy is one of hatred, violence and cold blooded murder on a vast scale. A Jekyll and Hyde character, variously described by his generation and those who followed as charming, loyal, polite, a pedant, an eccentric, an organizational genius, a fool, a desk killer and a loving father.The camera allows us into his world, albeit temporarily, and we can equate his busy, but mostly mundane schedule with contemporary images frozen in time. What makes this book unique is the astonishing amount of photographic material, following Himmler on his day to day routine. It is a must read for anyone interested in the enigmatic man and the operations of the Third Reich.

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In this third volume on the progress of the Second World War after the D-Day landings, Patrick Delaforce examines the final weeks of World War Two, beyond the Yalta Conference, when the question to be asked was not who would win, but how to prevent the war dragging on and also how to prevent Hitler from implementing a scorched earth policy across the Reichland. Then there was the race to win territory as the Russians, too, clawed their way across Europe. Operation Eclipse, begun in March1945, both prevented the Russians from occupying Denmark in violation of the agreement at Yalta but also occupied the Kiel naval base. The book also examines events immediately after the surrender and Hitler's suicide, and the creation of the short-lived fourth reich under the leadership of Admiral Donitz. As well as Denmark, the book also covers the liberations of both Holland and Norway. Most poignant of all, the liberation of the prisoners of war is covered as well as the freeing those that had toiled for Hitler against their will, as slaves. The book ends with the famous war crimes trials and the beginnings of the Cold War.

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Boatbuilding has been a traditional skill in Cornwall for many hundreds of years. In the more sheltered waters of Carrick Roads, on the leeward side of the Lizard peninsula, this tradition has flourished almost since the dawn of time to the present day. Pasco's Boatyard at St Just in Roseland has been in the forefront of this tradition of boatbuilding, repairing, mooring and storing boats for well over a quarter of a millennium. So much so that it is part of the fabric of the south-west area of Cornwall. As a strong commercial fishing area, Carrick Roads has led the way in providing good quality seafood for the area and the wider nation as a whole. Then as the move to larger mechanised fishing methods gathered pace, the skills of the craftsmen at St Just were turned towards the ever growing leisure and sporting section of the sailing and boating community. Thanks to these skills and the enthusiasm of the craftsmen at Pasco's, this tradition looks set to continue for many decades to come.

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When the Allies crossed the Rhine, Hitler decreed to go down fighting to the last man. A strange triangular bomber launched the 'Nicht loschbares Feuer' over London, destroying the city. Later, a black boomerang of sixty metres dropped two tons of anthrax over Washington and New York, making them inhabitable for fifty years. Thankfully, the inextinguishable firebomb was a figment of H. G. Wells' imagination. However, the construction of the secret flying wings had commenced at the start of 1945. Indeed, one fighter took to the skies on its only test flight. If these radical fighters of the Luftwaffe had been pressed into service earlier, they may well have changed the outcome of the Second World War. Profusely illustrated with technical drawings and fascinating data and information on the Luftwaffe's most radical fighter and bomber projects, The Ultimate Flying Wings of the Luftwaffe chronicles these revolutionary designs. A fascinating book for the military historian, modellers and those interested in aviation, this shows how close Hitler may have come in winning the war.

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The period from the end of the Second World War to the late 1960s marked a golden era for the traditional port-to-port class-divided passenger ship business. It was an age of re-awakening, with the wealthy and adventurous seeking new experiences abroad and countless migrants wanting to leave war-shattered Europe for new lives and opportunities overseas. On the liners, everyone was catered for: from passengers such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, who required suites of luxurious rooms with space to unpack over a hundred pieces of luggage, to penniless migrants carrying nothing more than an overnight bag, for whom a berth in a fifty-bed dormitory was all that was needed. Atlantic crossings were popular throughout the period, but there were also three- and four-class ships to South America, combination passenger-cargo services carrying only 100 or so travelers, fast mail ships to South Africa, colonial passenger vessels to East Africa, crowded migrant sailings to Sydney and Auckland, and trans-Suez and trans-Pacific passages. This was an era when long-distance travel was entirely dependent on the ocean liners. Post-War on the Liners examines, through fascinating anecdotes and detailed research, the many passenger ship services of this bygone era, recapturing the charm, practicality, and importance of post-war sea travel. From the magnificent-Cunarders Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, Italian Line's Augustus, Union-Castle's Bloemfontein Castle, P&O's Oronsay, and Shaw Savill's Southern Cross-to the lesser known-Fyffes Line's Golfito, Royal Mail's Amazon, Sitmar Line's Fairsea, and NYK Line's Hikawa Maru-this book reveals the unique qualities of individual ships and why they were so often regarded with affection by the men and women who travelled and served on them.

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The Boulton Paul Balliol was the last British aircraft powered by the iconic Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, and the last piston-powered advanced trainer in both the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm. Yet it began life as the world's first turbo-trainer, conceived in the last days of the Second World War, and became the first aircraft with a single prop-jet, beating the rival Avro Athena into the air by two weeks. However, policy changed and it was with the trusty Merlin that the Balliol ultimately went into production. Boulton Paul Aircraft hoped for huge orders-opening a second production line at Blackburn Aircraft in anticipation-but the RAF decided to switch to all-jet training; even though a dozen were sold to the Royal Ceylon Air Force, total Balliol production only ever amounted to just over 200 examples. Consigned to another footnote in aviation history, this was the last aircraft Boulton Paul-already world-leaders in the manufacture of power controls- would ever build. The Boulton Paul Balliol: The Last Merlin-Powered Aircraft is a detailed account of the journey of this aeroplane and its creators, and the shifting sands within the highly competitive post-war aeronautics industry. This is a beautifully illustrated insight into how a small, pioneering British manufacturer dealt with the fluctuating demands of its era, enhanced by the author's own story as a Boulton Paul enthusiast and restorer.

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Elizabeth of Bohemia, known to some as the Winter Queen and to others as the Queen of Hearts, was one of those rare figures whose personality still fascinates us across the centuries. The daughter of James I, she combined charm and humour with courage in the face of adversity and a steely determination to regain her patrimony after she and her husband were driven from the throne of Bohemia. Among the many men who championed Elizabeth's sorrowful fortunes, Lord Craven was the most faithful. Brave, wealthy and supremely generous, this latter-day knight errant threw everything he could into his efforts to recapture the Palatinate for his heroine, risking his life and spending enormous sums in financing a military campaign. After all schemes had come to naught he came to live at Elizabeth's threadbare court in the Hague, supporting her financially and befriending her talented but unruly family. His estates, confiscated by the Commonwealth, were returned at the Restoration, and he busied himself in planning fine houses for Elizabeth's use on her return to England in 1661.Sadly she died the same year but Ashdown House in Berkshire still remains as a poignant memorial to Craven's single-minded devotion.

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In Folk Tales on the Settle-Carlisle Railway, join the driver and fireman on the footplate of a locomotive. Stand behind a range of levers in a signal box or be one of a gang working on the permanent way, sweating in the summer heat or shivering after a heavy snowfall. Maintenance men in Blea Moor tunnel needed patience and good lungs; the tunnel might be thick with locomotive smoke or draped with icicles. On the Settle-Carlisle journey, we are thrilled by a slowly changing landscape, glancing at Pen-y-ghent, which crouches like a lion above Ribblesdale. Further north, we admire the broad acres of the Eden Valley, which lie between the Northern Pennines and the gaunt fells of the Lake District. An afternoon passenger train that took in the line from Garsdale to Hawes was named Bonnyface; when it turned up, workers smiled as they were about to go home. The Garsdale tank house was used for dances and an adjacent wheel-less carriage was the refreshment room.

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Being an avid collector of old photographs, particularly those featuring railways, well-known Yorkshire writer Peter Tuffrey was aware of the vast photographic archives lurking in the depths of the Yorkshire Post newspaper. Recently renewing his contact with an old acquaintance and newspaper editor, Peter Charlton, the author was presented with a marvellous opportunity to select some of these photographs for use in Yorkshire Railways: From the Yorkshire Post Archives. Under a number of interesting chapter headings such as 'Views from the Lineside', 'Staff', 'Crashes', 'On Shed and Works' and 'Preserved Railways and Railway Stations', we see the many different ways Yorkshire people have been involved with railways, particularly in the days of steam. The lineside pictures have amazing clarity, having been scanned and enhanced expertly from large format glass plate negatives. But that is not to detract from the book's other pictures, which have been carefully composed and taken over the years by the Yorkshire Post's own reputable staff photographers. The picture captions are well-researched, informative and reflect Peter's eye for the unusual and eccentric.Yorkshire Railways not only provides interest for the real enthusiast but also for the social historians among us who want to look back and get the feel for how it really was in the days before Dr Beeching came along with his axe.

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The Tornado F2 had a troubled introduction to service. Unloved by its crews and procured as a political imperative, it was blighted by failures and was developed to counter a threat that disappeared. Modified rapidly before it could be sent to war, the Tornado F3 eventually matured into a capable weapons system, but despite datalinks and new air-to-air weapons, its poor reputation sealed its fate. The author, a former Tornado F3 navigator, tells the story from an insider's perspective from the early days as one of the first instructors on the Operational Conversion Unit, through its development and operational testing, to its demise. David Gledhill reflects on its capabilities and deficiencies and analyses why the aircraft was mostly underestimated by opponents. Although many books have already described the Tornado F3, the author's involvement in its development will provide a unique insight into this complex and misunderstood aircraft programme and dispel some of the myths surrounding it.

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Numerous back-to-back houses, two or three stories high, were built in Birmingham during the 19th century, the majority of them were still in quite good condition in the early 20th century. Most of these houses were concentrated in inner-city areas such as Ladywood, Handsworth, Aston, Small Heath and Highgate. By the early 1970s, almost all of Birmingham's back-to-back houses had been demolished. The occupants were re-housed in new council houses and flats, some in redeveloped inner-city areas, while the majority moved to new housing estates such as Castle Vale and Chelmsley Wood. In fact, back-to-backs were once the commonest form of housing in England, home to the majority of working people in Victorian cities, but they have now almost entirely vanished from our urban townscape. Author Ted Rudge, who is a National Trust guide at the Birmingham back-to-backs in Hurst Street (built in 1831), has collected many personal stories from people who grew up in these infamous houses. For some it was a harsh life, cramped and overcrowded, but it was also a place where life-long friendships and relationships were made. The approach of telling the story through oral history, before these stories are forgotten, will be a shock to many modern people who are completely oblivious that these living conditions were standard across much of the country. What was it like to live in a house with one bedroom and no running water? How did eleven families share two toilets? The rise and fall of the back-to-back is a sobering tale of how our nation houses its people, and illuminates the story of the development of urban Britain.

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The true story of loss of His Majesty's Submarine Thetis is still shrouded in mystery, even now, some seventy-five years after her sinking. On 1st June 1939, HMS Thetis sank in Liverpool Bay on her maiden dive, with the loss of ninety-nine lives; the worst peacetime submarine tragedy ever to be suffered by the Royal Navy. As soon as the impending disaster was reported, a massive rescue operation was mounted by the Royal Navy, but, following a catalogue of mis-understandings, political posturing, 'red tape' and sheer incompetence, the operation ended in abysmal failure, with only four of the crew being rescued. There were many on-going recriminations and a number of legal battles, following the Royal Navy's private inquiry, and the subsequent public inquiry. Even after such forensic examination, nobody was held to be culpable for the disaster. As a result of media coverage at the time, a number of conspiracy theories were spawned, some gaining more credence than others, in light of the inconclusive findings of the official reports.In Thetis: Submarine Disaster, David Paul, having studied the events surrounding the tragedy of HMS Thetis for many years, examines the issues which led to the disaster, and draws some conclusions.

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John Whitehurst was one of a select number of men of science living and working in the eighteenth century whose minds were as remarkable for their breadth as their talents were for their diversity. Although remembered today mainly as a notable clockmaker from Derby - the town in which he lived and worked for over forty years - Whitehurst was also an instrument maker, mechanical engineer, hydraulicist, home improver, meteorologist, the father of modern geology and he had a hand in the development of the steam engine. John Whitehurst FRS: Innovator, Scientist, Geologist and Clockmaker presents a brief life of this talented and engaging man, drawing together his varied attainments and describes his wide circle of acquaintances, many of whom were fellow members of the influential Lunar Society. Much that he achieved has left an intangible legacy, except, of course, his clocks and instruments. This side of Whitehurst has been described in great detail, as well as the clock-making of his family and his successors.Details are given of the many types of clocks that came from the Whitehurst workshops, from complex movements made for Matthew Boulton to simple hook-and-spike wall and watchmen clocks. The book's appendices include details on all known Whitehurst turret clocks and angle barometers, the firm's apprentices and its known numbered clocks. Since his death just over two centuries ago, his achievements have been largely neglected, and this book rehabilitates the reputation of a man whose ideas were of great importance in the development of scientific thought in the eighteenth century.

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York is one of Britain's best preserved cities. Through a combination of sheer luck, the efforts of passionate conservationists and the apathy of the Luftwaffe, many of York's unique historical treasures survive to this day for visitors and residents to enjoy. Changing York aims to record nearly one hundred of these riches, showing how they were in the past and how they have survived and function today. We visit the Minster and some of the countless other churches and places of worship, workhouses, almshouses, hospitals, prisons, bridges, walls, and the Mansion House - a panoply of treasures which gives an exciting insight into the history of this fine English city. A truly unique feature of the book is the inclusion of photographs from the prestigious and rarely seen Evelyn Collection, held by the Yorkshire Architectural & York Archaeological Society. These stunning images give an unrivalled snapshot of York life in the early 20th century, showing the city in ways that will fascinate and enthral.

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By the middle of the 19th century, the demands to house Birmingham's rapidly expanding industry and workforce swiftly urbanised Nechells. Building in this north-east part of Birmingham was hastily constructed and became substandard. Working-class back to back courtyards with terraced houses were built dominating this area alongside factories, workshops, corner shops and pubs. Two gasworks were constructed in Windsor Street and Nechells Place polluting the air with an offensive odour compounded by the neighboring Saltley gasworks and a power station to the north. Today, fresh air has returned to Nechells. Duel-carriageways now run where shopping centers once thrived. Various redevelopments have replaced the substandard housing with high-rise tower blocks and low-rise housing in landscaped settings. Many modern large and small units now house industry, business and entertainment complexes alongside the old. Through images and text, Changing Nechells captures the considerable changes Nechells has undergone throughout three generations.

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Ivor Jones' new book vividly describes the cunning night-time decoys which saved Cardiff, and indeed Wales itself, from German bombings during the Second World War. By distorting what the German bombers could see from the air, the Ministry of Home Security was successful in averting hundreds and thousands of bombs from residential areas of the country. False 'lights' were created to mislead German bombers in search of targets; during the blackout, the ministry placed these lights in open countryside, or around the coast. Superbly illustrated with photographs and maps, this is a fascinating insight into a previously overlooked aspect of the Second World War.

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