Search results for ""history press""

The yew is one of the most fascinating and versatile life forms on Earth, botanically rich and intriguing, and culturally almost without comparison. In history, mythology, religion, folklore, medicine and warfare, this tree bears timeless witness to a deep relationship with mankind. Yew was the wood chosen to make some of mankind's oldest artefacts: spears, bows and musical instruments. These include items like the prehistoric spear found near Clacton, the 2,000-year-old wooden pipes from Greystones, County Wicklow and, of course, the famous medieval English longbow. In modern medicine, too, yew has proved a boon. Since 1992 taxol/paclitaxel has helped revolutionise the treatment of certain types of cancer. In botanical terms, yew is a mass of contradictions. It is a conifer which bears scarlet 'berries' with sweet juicy pulp instead of cones. It is highly poisonous in all its parts except the red fruit pulp, and yet both wild and domesticated animals feed upon it. It can live for thousands of years with the potential to renew itself. A new tree from an interior root can grow slowly within the hollow trunk of an ancient yew and centuries later 'take over' the older tree.When it comes to habitat, the yew tree is nothing if not versatile. It can grown on different continents at a wide range of altitudes: from rainy Edinburgh to sultry Istanbul, from Canada to Mexico, Scandinavia to North Africa and Sumatra, Japan and the Himalayas. Fred Hageneder's fascinating book is the first to cover all aspects of the botany as well as the cultural history and mythology of the genus Taxus. This is the remarkable story of the oldest living things in Europe.

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In 61 AD, Roman rule in Britain was threatened by a bloody revolt led by one of the most iconic figures in British history. Legend dictates that Boudica destroyed three Roman towns and thousands of lives in response to Roman cruelty and betrayal towards her and her family. However, in recent years, the debate about the revolt has developed little. This work therefore seeks to offer fresh proposals about why the revolt started, how it spread and where Boudica fought her last epic battle against a dangerously over-stretched and outnumbered Roman army. Boudica’s Last Stand side-steps conventional thinking to approach the topic in a more pragmatic style. The result is a book which allows both general and specialist readers alike to form their own conclusions by reconsidering a familiar story from an alternative perspective.

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Did you know? A new species of cat-like dinosaur, yet to be named, was discovered on the Isle of Wight in 1988. Darwin began his world famous ‘On the Origin of the Species' while staying at the Kings Head Hotel. There are 21 tourists to every Island resident. The Little Book of the Isle of Wight is a funny, fact-packed compendium of the sort of frivolous, fantastic or simply strange information which no one will want to be without. The Island’s most eccentric inhabitants, blood-curdling murders and literally hundreds of facts combine to make this required reading for locals and visitors alike. Illustrated with humorous cartoons and delivered with wit and flair, this captivating compendium is almost impossible to put down.

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Fishing the Severn Sea – From Hartland Point to St Ann’s Head. The Bristol Channel, once one of the busiest fishing lanes in Great Britain, is a compelling area of the nation’s seas to discover, with a unique range of characteristics. In this book, renowned maritime historian Mike Smylie and Simon Cooper, expert in the field, delve into the variety of fishing methods used in the past and present around this coastline. The area from Hartland Point in the south-west of England to St Ann’s Head in Wales is examined in detail, via the lower reaches of the River Severn and its estuary, the River Wye and the south coast of Wales. Accompanied by previously unseen photographs and drawings, the authors present a fascinating account of the lives of the ‘Severn Sea’ fishermen, the boats they used and the way they went about bringing in their catches. Encompassing stories from the herring fishers of Clovelly to long-netting on the Severn and the harvest of oysters off Swansea, this book is a must for fishing enthusiasts and those with an interest in local history.

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Love & War in London is rooted in the extraordinary milieu of wartime London. Vibrant and engaging, Olivia Cockett’s diary reveals her frustrations, fears, pleasures and self-doubts. She recorded her mood swings and tried to understand them, and wrote of her lover (a married man) and the intense relationship they had. As she and her friends and family in New Scotland Yard were swept up by the momentous events of another European war, she vividly reported on what she saw and heard in her daily life. Hers is a diary that brings together the personal and the public. It permits us to understand how one intelligent, imaginative woman struggled to make sense of her life, as the city in which she lived was drawn into the turmoil of a catastrophic war.

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Horatio Nelson was one of the most successful leaders Britain has ever produced. A legend in his own lifetime, he has inspired many hundreds of books, but few of these concentrated on him as a naval commander. After that much new material emerged, both as a result of the ground-breaking Nelson Letters Project and in a series of international conferences on Nelson’s battles involving French, Spanish and Danish historians. In particular, the discovery of Nelson’s personal order books and battle plans transformed our understanding of his command methods. Colin White was at the forefront of all these developments and made many of the most exciting new discoveries himself. He was ideally placed as Director of the Royal Naval Museum to offer a fresh analysis of Nelson’s tactics and leadership style. He presented gripping new narratives of all three of Nelson’s great battles, the Nile (1798), Copenhagen (1801) and Trafalgar (1805) and brilliantly showed how the British triumph at Trafalgar was the culmination of years of thought and experimentation on Nelson’s part, and by his contemporaries and predecessors.White demonstrated Nelson’s remarkable administrative skills and his abilities as a diplomat and intelligence officer – aspects of his leadership not fully highlighted before. The result is an enthrallingly different portrait of Nelson as an admiral – more rounded and more insightful than any yet achieved. Officially endorsed by the Royal Navy and the Royal Naval Museum, this book is lavishly illustrated in colour and black and white with over seventy images drawn from the collections of the Royal Naval Museum and National Maritime Museum, and with specially drawn diagrams illustrating Nelson’s battles and campaigns.

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In the nine years since the launch of Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan has rarely been out of the news. Over a thousand coalition military fatalities have been reported, and many times that number of Afghan civilians. The country is in the process of rebuilding, and yet the fighting continues. Following the success of his previous book, Battlefield Afghanistan, Mike Ryan looks at the state of this war-ravaged nation as Barack Obama finally decides to escalate America’s military presence. He considers the current role of coalition troops and the progress being made, or not being made – more than 100 British troops died in Afghanistan in 2009, the highest death toll for any year since the mission began in October 2001 – things are getting worse, not better.The author has unrivalled access not only to commanding officers, but also to the ‘boots on the ground’. With more than 200 colour photographs and analysis of the situation from those actually doing the fighting, Frontline Afghanistan may help the reader to make up his or her mind about the legitimacy of the conflict and the possible way forward.

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The siege of Tobruk was the longest in British military history. The coastal fortress and deep-water port was of crucial importance to the battle for North Africa, and the key that would unlock the way to Egypt and the Suez Canal. For almost a year the isolated garrison held out against all attempts to take it, and in the process Tobruk assumed a propaganda role that outweighed its great strategic value, becoming a potent symbol of resistance when the war was going badly for the British. Goebbels referred to the garrison as 'rats,' and they proudly adopted the insult as a title, and became the 'Rats of Tobruk.' When it finally fell to German tanks on 21 June 1942 with the loss of 25,000 men, Churchill said it was 'one of the heaviest blows I can recall during the war'. William F. Buckingham's startling account, drawing extensively on official records and first-hand accounts from both sides, is a comprehensive history of this epic struggle, and essential reading for anyone with an interest in the Western Desert Campaign.

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In the First World War many battles on the Western Front had lasted weeks or months. All too often they degenerated into glacial and indecisive campaigns of attrition. By the 1930s, however, military science had recreated the possibility of a decisive battle. An unprecedented rate of technological change meant that a stream of new inventions were readily at hand for military innovators to exploit. Aircraft, armoured vehicles and new forms of motorised transport became available to make possible a fresh style of offensive warfare when the next European war began in 1939. A belief in the importance of effective war fighting was vital to the Nazi vision of Germany's future. Nazi Germany's political and military leaders aimed for rapid and decisive victory in battle. From 1939-45 new ideologies and new machines of war carried destruction across the globe. Alan Warren chronicles the sixteen most decisive battles of the Second World War, from the Blitzkrieg of Poland to the fall of Berlin.

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When Britain declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939, it did not come as a surprise. Hitler’s remilitarisation and repudiation of the Treaty of Versailles sounded a warning bell for what was to follow. Philip MacDougall here examines what steps the British Government took to prepare the country for the war they knew was coming. Focusing on the front-line counties of Hampshire, Sussex and Kent, he looks at how they learnt lessons from the effect of war on civilian populations during previous conflicts; the public perception of war on the home front as evidenced by Mass Observation; plans for the emergency services, food supplies, the ARP, dispersal of industry and government, and control of enemy aliens; and how effective these preparations were after the outbreak of war. This is a must-read book for anyone interested in British history during the late thirties and early forties, and for local historians in these three counties.

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Edinburgh's history spans hundreds of years and with such a long, rich, gruesome and incredible past it is no surprise that Scotland's capital city boasts an array of paranormal activity. Both ancient and modern, Edinburgh is a city of contrasts. Beneath its cosmopolitan veneer lies an extensive world of paranormal activity. From tales of ancient and modern-day witches, to fairy portals and ghostly sightings in the Old Town, this incredible volume will invite the reader to view this historic city in a whole new light. Illustrated with 50 intriguing pictures, Paranormal Edinburgh will delight all those interested in the mysteries of the paranormal.

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The Fairey Rotodyne was a large British compound helicopter designed and built by the Fairey Aviation Company and intended for commercial and military applications. It was considered to be one of the iconic aviation projects of the 1950s/60s and a bright future was planned for the aircraft. Widely accepted to be a revolutionary design, it was economically viable, fast and capable of vertical take-off and landing from city centre heliports. However, despite the proven feasibility of this bold concept, the Rotodyne project was terminated in 1962 due to escalating development costs and unresolved technical issues. This book seeks to fill a gap in aviation literature on the history of the Rotodyne, an aircraft ahead of its time. Winner of Hampshire Libraries Special Collections Award 2010.

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The Battle of Berlin was a conflict of unprecedented scale. The Soviets massed 1,600,000 troops for Operation Berlin, and but Marshal Zhukov's his initial attack floundered and was so costly that he had to revise his plans for taking of the city when Stalin allowed his rival, Marshal Koniev, to intervene. The fight for Berlin thus became a contest for the prize of the Reichstag, fought in the sea of rubble left by Allied aerial bombardments, now reduced further by the mass of Soviet siege artillery. Meanwhile, Hitler and his courtiers sought to continue the struggle in the totally unrealistic atmosphere that prevailed in his bunker, while soldiers and civilians alike suffered and perished unheeded all around them.

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This detailed history examines the development of the airship, from the pre-First World War dirigibles up to date. Covering the airship in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and the US, author John Richards has delved into every aspect of the airship. The book ranges from the first fully controlled powered flight and the flight around the Eiffel Tower, the failed attempts to cross the Atlantic and the first London-Paris flight, to the many uses of the airship in times of war, including anti-submarine campaigns, convoy escorts and patrols. Between the wars Arctic expeditions were undertaken and events included a successful Atlantic crossing, Graf Zeppelin's 21-day round-the-world flight, a service to South America and the launch of the Hindenburg. The Second World War and a discussion of the airship's functions in the more modern world round off a fascinating and definitive guide to the airship.

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Fulham FC is the oldest professional club in London and an established Premiership side. This book offers a look at the club's history until 1970, including the time they played in the First Division, and players such as England captain Johnny Haynes, Bobby Robson and World Cup winner George Cohen.

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Enid Blyton is known throughout the world for her imaginative childrens books and her enduring characters such as Noddy and the Famous Five. She is one of the most borrowed authors from British libraries and she holds a fascination for readers old and young alike. Yet until 1974, when Barbara Stoney first published her official biography, little was known about this most private author, even members of her own family. The woman who emerged from Barbara Stoney's remarkable research was hardworking, complex, often difficult and, in many ways. childlike. Now this widely praised classic biography has been fully updated for the twenty-first century and, with the addition of new colour illustration and an extended bibliography of Enid Blyton's books, it documents the growing appeal of this extraordinary woman and her writing. The fascinating story of one of the world's most famous authors will once again intrigue and delight all those with an interest in her timeless books.

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Terrifying true-life tales of ghosts, spirits and apparitions of all kinds in Birmingham.

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From cold war bunkers to Civil War sieges - Britain is littered with sites of military significance. This book shows the amateur enthusiast how to unlock the drama of a battlefield in his or her own area. It explains how to read a military map and apply it to the ground, how to interpret the clues in the landscape and where to find the evidence.

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Hadrian's Wall was a small part of the thousands of miles of Roman frontiers, but presents the most magnificent spectacle. Its 90-mile length was conceived on a grand scale, with a stone wall 10 Roman feet thick and 15 high, and has been the subject of research for four centuries. There is, however, one aspect which has never been studied in detail: the practicalities of how it was actually built.This book examines every aspect of the work needed to construct the Wall, and analyses all the building operations including quarrying, stone dressing, transport and scaffolding. It is presented in a form accessible to the interested layman as well as to the student, and among other new conclusions throws light on the attitude of the Roman army to the work.

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The introduction of iron tanks within barges in the early twentieth century enabled much heavier cargoes to be carried on the Humber waterways, including liquids such as coal tar or vegetable oils and, by the 1920s, petrol. By the late 1950s/early 1960s, tanker traffic flourished on the industrial waterways like the Aire & Calder and Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigations. Mike Taylor relates the story of the Humber tankers, widely illustrated and interspersed with recollections of men who worked on the waterways. This detailed book provides a overview of the history of these craft on the Humber waterways, including looking at boatyards, cargoes, waterway features and the interconversions of dry cargo craft to tankers.

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Walter Sutherland played rugby for Scotland between 1910 and 1914. He was a brilliant player, a genuine folk-hero and also a very good athlete who also represented Scotland at sprinting. This book is a comprehensive biography of Walter Sutherland.

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Rising to prominence with his hat-trick in the Scottish Cup final of 1904 against Rangers, Jimmy Quinn became the spearhead of Willie Maley's great Edwardian side who won six League titles in a row. Some of the very essence of Scottish football lies in the story of Jimmy Quinn.

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This book looks at the activities of the Vikings in the Irish Sea, a band of water that has been important since prehistoric times in the history of maritime cultural exchange between Britain and Ireland as well as the Scandinavian countries. The Vikings fully exploited their naval dominance to exert their influence across this area and David Griffiths presents a unique overview of the results of this dominance. The book will look in detail at the activities of the Vikings in Wales, NW England, the Isle of Man, Scotland and Ireland. The archaeological evidence such as silver hoards and burials, along with the evidence of place-names, settlement and sculpture provide a fascinating insight into the mechanisms of Viking power in these areas.

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As one of the first great wicketkeeper-batsmen Jim played 46 times for England in a career that earned him widespread respect throughout the game of cricket.

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Ace of Spies reveals for the first time the true story of Sidney Reilly, the real-life inspiration behind fictional hero James Bond. Andrew Cook's startling biography cuts through the myths to tell the full story of the greatest spy the world has ever know. Sidney Reilly influenced world history through acts of extraordinary courage and sheer audacity. He was a master spy, a brilliant con man, a charmer, a cad and a lovable rogue who lived on his wits and thrived on danger, using women shamelessly and killing where necessary - and unnecessary. Sidney Reilly is one of the most fascinating spies of the twentieth century, yet he remains one of the most enigmatic - until now.

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This book of 85 stories from medieval Iceland illustrates a variety of supernatural beliefs concerning elves, gigantic trolls, water monsters, ghosts, wizards and black magic rites, buried treasure and religious tales. The stories are intimately linked to the landscape and reflect the hopes, fears, hardships and preoccupations of everyday life. The translation of each tale is accompanied by an explanatory introduction and notes.

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The Black Death first hit Europe in 1347. This horrific disease ripped through towns, villages and families. Men, women, children, young and old succumbed to a painful, drawn-out death as pustules, abscesses and boils erupted over their bodies. SUbsequent attacks of the disease, coming almost every decade, so limited the population that it was not until the eighteenth century that it managed to surpass the levels of the 1340s. For over three hundred years, Europeans were stalked by death. In the end, this mysterious disease that had terrorized, terrified and killed millions, disappeared at inexplicably as it had appeared. William Naphy is Senior Lecturer and Head of History at the University of Aberdeen. his other books include Born to be gay and Sex Crimes, both by Tempus. Andrew Spicer is Lecturer in Early Modern European History at Oxford Brookes University.

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When Stothert & Pitt announced, in January 1989, the closure of its engineering works, 580 local people lost their jobs and the city of Bath lost its single largest manufacturer. For over 250 years the heavy engineering and metalworking business had employed local people (over 2,000 in 1945) and supplied a wide variety of products from bedsteads to boilers and cement mixers to cranes. Today, when Bath is renowned for an 'industry-free' elegance, refined and displayed for tourists, this opportunity to remind us that heavy industry has played its part in the city's evolution could not be more timely. In 1980 the director of the Science Museum claimed that the work of Stothert & Pitt, as a supplier of heavy engineering across the world, was Bath's greatest contribution to world history. This apparently surprising remark reveals an acknowledgement of the company's significance, locally, nationally and internationally.

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This book is part of a series, which combines the reminiscences of local people with old photographs and archived images to show the history of various local areas in Great Britain, through their streets, shops, pubs, and people.

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In an age of evocative names like Eric Bloodaxe and Egil Skallagrimson, one name has been lost in the mists of time: that of Athelstan, ruler of all Britain. From the first raids of the Vikings on the shores of Britain and Ireland, the book traces the response to threat across the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic worlds.The rise of the kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons, and later, of the English, built from the debris of Viking destruction is analysed in detail and compared to the struggle for independence in Northumbria. Athelstan's achievement in establishing an empire for which he became famous is a key focus of the tale, along with the extraordinary history of the hunt for the lost battle of Brunanburh (AD 937), a clash which defined a people. For hundreds of years, no king would rule as much of Britain as Athelstan. His reputation survived the medieval period in the form of histories, songs and poems only to be lost at a later date, and yet its essence can still be found today all over the country.

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There has been a strong interest in Roman roads in Britain for centuries and a vast amount of information has been accumulated from observation and excavation. For the first time this new study analyses the data systematically and evaluates it from a highway engineering viewpoint. Hugh Davies not only provides an up-to-date account of the road system built by the Romans in Britain, he examines whether this information matches up with what we would expect of a transport system.Looking at the construction of the roads - their width, surface and drainage - as well as at their number, the author concludes that the Romans did indeed provide a high-quality service suited to the needs of civilians and soldiers alike. At the same time his study shows how the development of the road system fitted in with the layout of town plans and with the overall expansion of the province; on the whole the early military roads were constructed of lighter materials and by the end of the Roman period as many as ten layers of road surface can on occasions be detected. This accessible work, which includes a Gazetteer of some 400 Roman roads, will be welcomed by anyone interested in the Romans in Britain.

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A history of Grangemouth

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The ingenuity and technology of the ancient world never ceases to surprise and signalling demonstrates both to the full. There has, however, never been a study of Roman signalling in English, nor has anyone previously tried to operate the techniques described in the classical manual. Dr Woolliscroft's study is in two parts: first he describes the signalling techniques pioneered by the Greeks and developed by the Romans; then he looks at the application of these principles to Hadrian's Wall and to the German Limes, as revealed by archaeological research. In each case he finds that, despite difficult terrain, the layout allows nearly all the small observation posts to see, and thus signal to, one of the main garrison forts. Since on occasion this caused marked tactical weaknesses in the line, it is clear that signalling was given high priority by the frontier designers. Similar results are now being found elsewhere in the Roman world, suggesting that all Rome's very different looking frontier systems may have an underlying uniformity With 80 illustrations and complete with an Appendix containing all the key classical references to signalling, this is a study that will be indispensable for anyone seriously interested in the Roman army or in frontier studies.

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With 200 images, selected from the archives, portraying the city in a bygone age, we embark on an intriguing pictorial journey around Newcastle upon Tyne. The Tyne of course dominates the scene, new bridges are built and old ones demolished to cope with the changing demands of Newscastle transport and industry. The quayside, redeveloped after the great fire of 1854, was busy as a market and the commercial centre of the Great Northern Coalfield. The gap between the rich and the poor was wider then. Jesmond Towers, home to an entrepreneurial shipbuilder, and The Gables, home to the Richardson family, owners of Elswick leather works, contrast starkly with living conditions in the inner city area. During the 1930s the council rehoused 30,000 people in slum clearance projects. Leisure time was occupied in many and varied ways, sports such as rowing, bowling and curling were all enjoyed, along with football (naturally) - 1955 being a golden year for Newcastle FC. Alternatively, The Hoppings was a popular annual festival, earning the nickname 'the greatest show on earth' with its combination of freak shows, rides and entertainment. All this and much more is brought vividly to life through photographs and narrative, making for a fascinating and memorable read.

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A history of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil

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Alan Turing is a patron saint of Manchester, remembered as the Mancunian who won the war, invented the computer, and was all but put to death for being gay. Each myth is related to a historical story. This is not a book about the first of those stories, of Turing at Bletchley Park. But it is about the second two, which each unfolded here in Manchester, of Turing’s involvement in the world’s first computer and of his refusal to be cowed about his sexuality. Manchester can be proud of Turing, but can we be proud of the city he encountered?

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Sixty diverse cars, sixty fascinating stories, sixty contrasting specifications, just one uniting factor: they’re all forgotten, neglected or misunderstood classics.Motoring in the 1940s and ’50s spanned from post-war austerity to the you’ve-never-had-it-so-good era. It was a time when engines gained more power, suspension became more cosseting, the chassis frame was rendered a thing of the past, and styling followed jet fighters and later space rockets. Many cars found success across the world, but others barely got off the ground and quickly vanished from our collective consciousness.In Lost Cars of the 1940s and ’50s, award-winning author Giles Chapman presents an all-new selection of the intriguing strays of the car world. Rarely seen archive and contemporary images bring daring new designs, economy models and some extraordinary luxury cars back to life … even if they misfire once again in the process.

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Cyril Hart's seminal work on woodland management and practices is back in this fourth edition, which covers a wealth of material including financial management, taxation, the integration of forestry and agriculture, silvicultural operations, grading of timber, valuations marketing, utilisation, non-wood benefits, saw-milling and nursery practice.A modern classic that has been a trusted companion to forestry students and experts for decades, Practical Forestry is a must-have for anyone interested in working in, managing or preserving Britain’s lush and vital woodland areas.

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Jeoffry was a real cat who lived 250 years ago, confined to an asylum with Christopher Smart, one of the most visionary poets of the age. In exchange for love and companionship, Smart rewarded Jeoffry with the greatest tribute to a feline ever written. Prize-winning biographer Oliver Soden combines meticulous research with passages of dazzling invention to recount the life of the cat praised as ‘a mixture of gravity and waggery’. The narrative roams from the theatres and bordellos of Covent Garden to the cell where Smart was imprisoned for mania. At once whimsical and profound, witty and deeply moving, Soden’s biography plays with the genre like a cat with a toy. It tells the story of a poet and a poem, while setting Jeoffry’s life and adventures against the roaring backdrop of eighteenth-century London.

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South-east England, 1740s: war and heated politics bring the old practice of smuggling to new and dangerous heights. Violent gangs of smugglers terrorise communities and confound government attempts to stop them. The most famous of these, the Hawkhurst Gang, operate like a modern drug cartel fuelled by illegal tea. They threaten witnesses and authorities, brandish weapons in public, and fight battles in the streets, murdering and kidnapping those who get in their way.Enter a world filled with gangsters, corrupt politicians, crooked law enforcement, and vigilantes, brought to the brink by Britain's most notorious smuggling gang.

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‘Private Inquiries is a must-read – a riveting mythbuster, with its revelations of the real histories of women PIs.’ – Val McDermidThe female private detective has been a staple of popular culture for over 150 years, from Victorian lady sleuths to ‘busy-body spinsters’ and gun-toting modern PIs. But what about the real-life women behind these fictional tales?Dismissed as ‘Mrs Sherlock Holmes’ or amateurish Miss Marples, mocked as private dicks or honey trappers, they have been investigating crime since the mid-nineteenth century – everything from theft and fraud to romance scams and murder.In Private Inquiries, Caitlin Davies traces the history of the UK’s female investigators, uncovering the truth about their lives and careers from the 1850s to the present day. Women like Victorian private inquiry agent Antonia Moser, the first woman to open her own agency; Annette Kerner, who ran the Mayfair Detective Agency on Baker Street in the 1940s; and Liverpool sleuth Zena Scott-Archer, who became the first woman president of the World Association of Detectives. Caitlin also follows in the footsteps of her subjects, undertaking a professional qualification to become a Private Investigator, and meeting modern PIs to find out the reality behind the fictional image.Female investigators are on the rise in the UK – and despite the industry’s sleazy reputation, nearly a third of new trainees are women. After a century of undercover work, it’s time to reveal the secrets of their trailblazing forebears.

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Before 1871, Germany was not yet a nation but simply an idea. Otto von Bismarck had a formidable task at hand. How would he bring thirty-nine individual states under the yoke of a single Kaiser? Once united, could the young European nation wield enough power to rival the empires of Britain and France – all without destroying itself in the process? In a unique study of five decades that changed the course of modern history, Katja Hoyer tells the story of the German Empire from its violent beginnings to its calamitous defeat in the First World War. This often-startling narrative is a dramatic tale of national self-discovery, social upheaval and realpolitik that ended, as it started, in blood and iron.

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The Archbishop of Canterbury called him ‘bloody rude’, courtiers feared he was ‘a foreign interloper out for the goodies’, daughter-in-law Sarah Ferguson found him ‘very frightening’ and the Queen Mother labelled him ‘the Hun’. Journalists have continually portrayed him as a gaffe-prone serial philanderer, with European outlets going way off-piste and claiming he has fathered 24 illegitimate children. Prince Philip says ‘the impression the public has got is unfair’, though there is no self-serving autobiography and his interviews with broadcasters or writers are done grudgingly. The Duke sets out to explore the man behind the various myths, drawing on interviews with relations, friends and courtiers and the Duke's own words. It brings to life some rare aspects of his character, from a love of poetry and religion to his fondness for Duke Ellington and his fascination with UFOs. It also explains why for over seven decades he has been the Queen's ‘strength and stay’ – and why he is regarded by many as a national treasure.

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Popular television programmes highlight the satisfaction that can be gained from investigating the history of houses, and there is always plenty of interest in the subject, with archives becoming ever more accessible with access to the internet.As the subject covers a broad field, the authors have set out to include advice on those aspects that usually apply to a project and others that will be of particular use for beginners. The reader is guided through every stage of research, from the first exploration of the archives to the completion of the task. Suggestions are also included on how to present the findings – a house history makes a very attractive gift.The authors describe how to deduce the age of a property (it is very seldom directly recorded when a house was built) and characteristics of research on particular types of property – such as cottages, manor houses, inns, mills, former church properties, and farms – are discussed. In one example, research demonstrated that a farm was likely to have been a Domesday manor – a fascinating discovery achieved using records accessible to any beginner.

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The bitter and often bloody fight which accompanied the emergence of the United States of America as an independent force on the world stage has always been a subject of much debate and controversy. Historian Jeremy Black challenges many traditional assumptions and conveys vividly the immediacy of events such as the battles of Bunker Hill and Saratoga and the sieges of Charleston and Yorktown, as well as less famous incidents, while also offering an original and thorough assessment of the campaign in its American, colonial and European contexts.Combining a chronological survey of the war with a thematic examination of the major issues, The War for American Independence, 1775–1783 is a comprehensive account of a remarkable campaign.

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Basil Rathbone is synonymous with Sherlock Holmes. He played the Victorian sleuth in the fourteen Fox/Universal films of the 1930s and ’40s, as well as on stage and radio. For many people, he is the Holmes. Basil Rathbone grew to hate Sherlock Holmes. The character placed restrictions on his career: before Holmes he was an esteemed theatre actor, appearing in Broadway plays such as The Captive and The Swan, the latter of which became his launchpad to greater stardom. But he never, ever escaped his most famous role. Basil Rathbone was not Sherlock Holmes. In The Curse of Sherlock Holmes, celebrated biographer David Clayton looks at the behind-the-camera life of a remarkable man who deserved so much more than to be relegated to just one role.

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The railways of Britain were battered and bruised after the First World War. Over 20,000 miles of track were owned and operated by 120 companies, and the government decided the country could no longer support so many inefficient, diverse and, in some cases, overlapping operations. To stem the mounting losses and regulate the system, the 1921 Railways Act, also known as the Grouping Act, became law on 1 January 1923. Just four large companies remained, nicknamed the ‘Big Four’: the LMS (London, Midland and Scottish Railway); the LNER (London and North Eastern Railway); the SR (Southern Railway); and the GWR (Great Western Railway). Remembering the Big Four looks back at the Big Four railway companies, 100 years after they were drawn together. Complete with contemporary images of the locomotives inherited and built by each company, it is essential reading for any railway enthusiast.

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The remains of the world’s most famous passenger liner, RMS Titanic, were discovered off the coast of Newfoundland in 1985, seventy-three years after it sank. Since then there have been numerous deep-water expeditions to the wreck site, yet little has ever been revealed about the details of these operations.Now, in this fully updated book, Eugene Nesmeyanov recounts all the major Titanic expeditions from 1985 to 2021, taking us on a journey alongside the scientists, cinematographers and other specialists who have visited the legendary wreck 2½ miles below the surface of the North Atlantic. A thorough analysis of the sophisticated technical equipment used is presented, along with historical, biological and other scientific findings, and rare material from official archives and private collections.

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