Search results for ""the history press""

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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Following a devastating fire in 2003, an area of moorland above Robin Hoods Bay on the North Yorkshire coast was laid bare, revealing a fascinating and previously unrecorded landscape. The authors have spent hundreds of hours locating and plotting the newly exposed features with particular regard to the many curiously marked prehistoric stones.This engaging book represents the first major interpretative work on both the recently discovered and already known prehistoric rock motifs within this area. It follows the authors in a fascinating series of archaeological detective stories, studying the clues through which an insight into prehistoric life can be reached.In a collection of multidisciplinary studies the authors present their innovative interpretations of the carvings, as well as offering new insights into the astronomical and calendrical associations that can be assigned to the marked stones of the North York Moors.

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This gripping biography of the Chicago Traction King, Charles Tyson Yerkes, reveals how the tycoon behind the development of London Transport had a private life as turbulent as his dynamic business dealings.

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Why is so much heroism attached to the sinking of the Titanic? Why do we accord impossible glory to the miserable, misbegotten drowining of the equivalent of a small town? What process led to the creation of champions? Who were the real heroes, and how were they overlooked? What did society - and the press - do with an overriding need for blame? By identifying the fable-making, and finally throwing off a blanket of boasting, this book enables a fresh, sharp focus on history's most famous shipwreck.We see into the nature of prejudice, public values and political and national motives. It explores the light and the dark of what we thin we know: about the engineers, the musicians, the Captain, his officers, owners and officialdom - as well as the sinking itself and society's curious 'celebration' of abject catastrophe. It also looks at sacrificial victims, in particular the character of Captain Stanley Lord of the Californian, a man tarred with abandoning fifteen hundred people to their fate. Backed up with a new photographic archive and bolstered by a series of contemporary extracts to support its arguments, this is Titanic history presented in an entirely new and authentic light.

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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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Upminster is a leafy suburb of London which has seen many changes over the last century. The Second World War and the arrival of fast transport links into the city were major events which shaped the area. In this delightful compilation, local write and long-time resident of Upminster, Cecilia Pyke, has asked a range of different people about living and working in the area. The book covers all aspects of life, from the big events, such as the impact of war, to the smallest details of everyday life. The absorbing stories are complemented by 100 photographs from the author's and residents private collections. Voices of Upminster is sure to appeal to anyone who has ever lived in this garden suburb.

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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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Illustrated with more than 60 archive images, this collection of true tales from across the Ribble Valley gives a record of crime and punishment. It begins with the paranoid prisoner of Barnoldswick and passes through an alphabet of place names that ends within the haunted ruins of Whalley Abbey, where the execution of a martyred monk was staged.

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This is the story of the heady days when Brian Clough and Peter Taylor brought about a revolution at Derby County in the late 1960s and early '70s - transforming them from Second Division strugglers to First Division champions - from the unique perspective of close friend, confidant and local journalist George Edwards.

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Presents a social and industrial study of the conditions faced by the many thousands of working men and women and their families whose lives were controlled by the Great Western Railway from 1930-1960, the beginning of the modern period for the railway with mechanical accounting, up to the decline of the railway from 1957.

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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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A collection of more than 200 archive photographs that traces the ways in which the town of Yardley has changed and developed.

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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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This fascinating collection of more than 180 archive photographs traces some of the many ways in which Cullercoats has changed and developed over the last hundred years. All aspects of everyday life are recorded here, from shops and businesses, churches and schools, to images of work and leisure, day trips and days off. The landscapes and landmarks of the town and its surrounding areas are captured in this valuable historical record of life in the region as it used to be.

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Scotland's role in the Second World War aerial conflict is well documented, but its involvement in this field in the First World War has been largely ignored and few physical remains of First World War aerodromes survive today. Seeking to redress the balance, Malcolm Fife's detailed history charts many important bases and fields around the country. Beginning in the pre-war period, he discusses seaplane stations, airship stations, Naval, defence, training and manufacturing sites, before documenting the changes in the post-war years. From Turnhouse, near Edinburgh, and Turnberry, to Royal Naval Air Service aerodromes such as East Fortune and Donibristle, this illustrated guide will appeal to both military and aviation enthusiasts and interested locals.

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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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Often overshadowed by its neighbour on the other side of the Mersey, Birkenhead docks were built in conjunction with those of Liverpool. Their three hundred year history is told by Ian Collard, a native of the Wirral and illustrated using many photographs taken by Ian over the past four decades. These four decades have seen great changes within the dock system and all have been captured by Ian and his camera.

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Illustrating the area of Greenwich's rich history and naval and military connections.

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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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A history of the water crossings of Gloucestershire from the Aust-Beachley ferry to the smaller river ferries such as at Tewkesbury. It tells the story of the county's ferries through the past 1,000 years, from a time before bridges onwards. Joan Tucker takes us on a fascinating exploration of the history of the county's ferries, identifying isolated backwaters and popular tourist spots that once provided an essential transport link in this beautiful part of the world.

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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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As Sir John Betjeman famously put it, 'The Pier is Southend, Southend is the Pier'. Southend-on-Sea's famous landmark is the longest seaside pleasure pier in the world and has given its town sterling service in times of war and peace. Loved by millions of visitors, Southend pier is truly one of the icons of the British seasise. Southend without its pier would seem unthinkable, yet not so long ago there was talk to demolishing it following the disastrous fire of 1976 and the closing of the pier railway two years later. Fourtunately, following the support and lobbying of local people and pier lovers, the Grade II listed pier was saved, and although seemingly suffering a disaster every ten years or so, it's future seems happily assured under the care of Southend Council. This book is an extensive pictorial survey of the pier from its inception in 1830 up to 2007, celebrating 'the heart of Southend' and its everlasting appeal to both the town's residents and visitors alike.

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A history of Hull transport.

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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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This compilation of images of Queen's Park Football Club, Scotland's oldest senior club, covers the past 140 years, from their humble beginnings on the Recreation Grounds of the south side of Glasgow to their twenty-first century home at the iconic Hampden Park, the field of dreams for all Scotland football heroes. The club has steadfastly remained true to an amateur ethos of playing the game for the love of it, a refreshing attitude in this era of highly-paid sportsmen. Queen's Park members had the foresight to consider building football grounds on a grand scale, giving Scotland three national stadiums, hosting international matches, Scottish Cup finals and European finals over the past 128 years.A great number of players have benefited from their time at Queen's Park - Andrew Watson, the first black Scottish international, R.S. McColl, the prince of centre forwards, Alan Morton and Jack Harkness, both Wembley Wizards, J.B. McAlpine, Ronnie Simpson and Ross Caven to name a few. Bobby Brown, Ian McColl, Alex Ferguson and Andy Roxburgh went on to serve as Scotland team managers. This selection of images will be of interest to all football enthusiasts, giving a glimpse of the men behind the beginnings of organised football and the game they have left as their legacy.

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Tunstall is the northern most of the six towns which make up Stoke-on-Trent, but like the others retains a distinct sense of local identity. This book presents the nostalgic memories of those who have lived or worked in Tunstall. It is intended for those interested in the history of this area.

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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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Rabbit farming was an important industry in post-medieval times, and has left many traces in the modern landscape, the real significance of which has not always been recognised - leading to much confusion among archaeologists. Written by Britain's leading landscape archaeologists, this book talks about this subject.

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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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This book puts together the collected memories of a varied group of men from the now closed Ryecroft shed, with lots of facts about the history of the shed, to present a record of railway life in Walsall. It recounts the vibrant, intense activity of Walsall Station and its Long Street and Midland goods yards, which during the period 1879 to 1957 were the focal point of travel and commerce in Walsall. The station was one of the key contributors to the development of Walsall becoming a Borough, then a Metropolitan Borough. The shed closed in 1957, when increased road transport brought about a decline of rail revenue. Walsall's Engine Shed will appeal to the families of the hundreds of men who worked at the Ryecroft shed, plus the many railway and industry enthusiasts in the area.

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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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A collection of images and captions.

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Join local guide Phil Lister on a tour of Haworth's dark and ghostly side: meet the ghost of Room 7 at the Old White Lion, the Grey Lady of Weavers Restaurant and Ponden Hall's harbinger of doom, Old Greybeard. Tour the famous graveyard, in use for over 700 years and believed to house over 40,000 souls. Rediscover the Haworth of the Brontë's, the blackened-stone buildings, washed by Pennine rain, the ginnels and alleyways of a forgotten time - and don't miss the Graveyard Cookbook, a veritable feast of ghoulish delights!

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Tells the story of Catherine of Braganza, Charles II's Portuguese Queen set against the background of injustice and tragedy. Politics, sex, lies, religion and misunderstanding meant that their marriage was never going to be what she hoped. A wonderful story making you feel for Catherine, but understand Charles. A really good read if you're into Restoration history, and even if you're not.

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Communications and Coal looks at Brunel's return after the completion of the Taff Vale Railway, which included schemes for an alternative Irish route through mid- and north Wales and a direct crossing of the River Severn. The latter was intended for his broad-gauge South Wales Railway, on which his pioneering Wye Bridge at Chepstow and his longest timber work at Landore would be built.The final choice of the SWR terminus at Neyland was not without problems for Brunel who was also engaged on the 'insurmountable' difficulties faced by the Vale of Neath Railway, tramroad conversions in the Forest of Dean and the final phase of the broad gauge in south Wales which included the Llynvi Valley Railway and the South Wales Mineral Railway.

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Included are details on the ground-breaking navigation and attack system, its Cold War context, its requirements and the development of ATF (advanced terrain following), and in-depth analysis of automatic flight control systems, analogue and digital simulations at Weybridge and the reconnaissance pack for mapping enemy territory. It finishes with a look at the final throes of TSR2's cancellation by the Labour government in 1965. ‘This fascinating personal account of the behind the scenes action at Vickers during the heyday of British aviation and weaponry invention in the 1950s and 1960s is both authoritative and very, very readable.’ Wg Cdr Al Monkman, D.F.C., M.A., B.A., R.A.F., 617 Sqn, RAF Lossiemouth, Moray.

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'Trip', if you happened to be a Swindonian and one that worked 'inside' the Great Western Railway's Swindon Works, was the event of the year. When, in 1848, a party of some 500 made up of men from the Mechanics Institution and their families took the company's gratis train to Oxford, they set a tradition that lasted for over 120 years. Trip enabled the 'trippers' to travel initially all over the GWR system, then up and down the country and, in later times, even across the Channel to Europe. It was a masterpiece of management and in its heyday numbers up to 26,000 would leave Swindon in a matter of hours. Over the years Trip became part of the fabric of life for Swindon Works' railway families and they invested it with their individual rituals and traditions. It was talked about with hushed breath and hopeful longing for many months before the event and is now remembered long years after with great fondness. This book provides an evocative record of Trip for those who remember the excursions and for anyone interested in the history of Swindon and the administrative prowess of the GWR. Archive photographs and postcards offer a fascinating glimpse of Swindon Works and the families on holiday at an array of Trip destinations.

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Takes the reader on a tour of Shropshire's inns. Illustrated with over 100 images, this work offers an insight into the history of these crafted items. It is useful for those interested in the story behind the signs, and provides a guide for those who wish to locate them around the county.

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