Search results for ""The History Press Ltd""

Despite being the inventor of the tank and responsible for campaign-winning tactics, by the start of the Second World War the United Kingdom had fallen well behind other nations in the design and build of armoured vehicles. Here, William Suttie uncovers the history of tank design from a government perspective and the decisions and failures that led to that state of affairs, and details the formation of the Fighting Vehicles Research and Development Establishment at Chertsey. Known as the Tank Factory, the Chertsey establishment sought to ensure that the United Kingdom became world-leading in the field of military vehicle research and design, and that the British Army would never be underprotected or outgunned again. Drawing on unpublished sources and photographs, this fascinating book reveals the establishment’s history, its groundbreaking research and its inventions and designs, including first-hand insights from those who worked there.

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Corpses in the street! The Black Death decimates Bristol. A stomach full of arsenic! Poisoned puddings and merry murderers. Take that you brute! Suffragettes attack Winston Churchill. Bombs drop on Bristol! Blackouts and the blitz. Bristol has one of the bloodiest histories on record. One of Britain’s key ports, it suffered devastating attacks from every possible invader, from Saxon fleets all the way through to the Nazi bombers of the Second World War. Meanwhile, adventurers, smugglers and pirates sailed from its docks, and more than half a million souls sailed in chains, victims of Bristol’s vile slave trade ended only by the Herculean efforts of the abolitionists – Bristol folk amongst them. Containing hundreds of years of history and amazing true stories of eccentric residents such as con-woman ‘Princess Caraboo’, who ended her days as a Bristol leech-seller, no Bristol bookshelf is complete without this book.

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Lieutenant R.S. Maxwell took off in his BE2C fighter but saw nothing unusual until 8.25 p.m. when, according to his report: ‘My engine was missing irregularly and it was only by keeping the speed of the machine down to 50 mph that I was able to stay at 10,000 feet. I distinctly saw an artificial light to the north of me, and at about the same height. I followed this light northeast for nearly 20 minutes, but it seemed to go slightly higher and just as quickly as myself, and eventually I lost it completely in the clouds.’ Such sightings occurred frequently during the war. The reasons are fascinating in themselves: the first is that aviation is in its infancy, so light phenomena at altitude are a new experience. The second is fear: for the first time a real threat came from the skies. It wasn’t just the Western Front: on 21 August 1915 twenty New Zealand soldiers allegedly saw eight bread-loaf shaped clouds over Hill 60, Suvla Bay. ‘A British regiment, the First- Fourth Norfolk, of several hundred men, was then noticed marching . . . towards Hill 60.’ They marched into the cloud, which lifted off the ground, and were never seen again.

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1217: Commoner-turned-earl’s-man Edwin Weaver has returned to Conisbrough Castle after his blood-soaked adventure in Lincoln. Now carrying a dagger for protection, he has no chance to rest, for preparations are already underway for a noble wedding. But his weapon will be little help against the armed band of outlaws terrorising the area. When the household marshal is murdered under the earl’s own roof, and Edwin is asked to resolve the situation before the wedding plans can be jeopardised. Edwin is convinced that there is more to his death than meets the eye and, as he digs deeper, he realises that the killer’s true target might be someone much closer to home. The third book in C.B. Hanley’s popular Mediaeval Mystery series, following The Bloody City.

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It is 1915 and the Great War has been raging for a year when Edward Rowbotham, a coal miner from the Midlands, volunteers for Kitchener’s Army. Drafted into the newly formed Machine Gun Corps, he is sent to fight in places whose names will forever be associated with mud and blood and sacrifice: Ypres, the Somme and Passchendaele. He is one of the ‘lucky’ ones, winning the Military Medal for bravery and surviving more than two-and-a-half years of the terrible slaughter, which wiped out all but six of his original company. He wrote these memoirs fifty years later, but found his memories of life in the trenches had not diminished at all. The sights and sounds of battle, the excitement, the terror, the extraordinary comradeship, are all vividly described as if they had happened to him only yesterday.

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*2 February 1101: Ranulf Flambard, the first person to be locked in the Tower of London, chose this day to make his escape. *24 March 1873: Mary Ann Cotton, thought to have poisoned three husbands, a lover, eight children and seven stepchildren, is taken to be hanged. *9 November 1888: The mutilated body of Mary Jane Kelly, thought to be the fifth victim of Jack the Ripper, is found in her room in Whitechapel. This volume contains 365 amazing and incredible true crimes from British history. With infamous names – Crippen, Seddon, Haigh, Ellis – alongside lesser-known examples from the British pantheon of crime, it will fascinate, chill and surprise readers everywhere.

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At the beginning of the twentieth century, competition between the North Atlantic shipping lines was fierce. While Britain responded to the commercial threat posed by the growing German merchant marine, there was also rivalry between the great Cunard Line and its chief competitor, the White Star Line. Against this backdrop Olympic, Titanic and Britannic were conceived. Designed for passenger comfort, they were intended to provide luxurious surroundings and safe, reliable service rather than record-breaking speed. Ironically, fate decreed that only Olympic would ever complete a single commercial voyage and she went on to serve for a quarter of a century in peace and war. Titanic’s name would become infamous after she sank on her maiden voyage. The third sister, Britannic, saw a brief and commendable career as a hospital ship during the First World War, sinking in the Aegean Sea in 1916.

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William Heath Robinson remains one of Britain’s best-loved illustrators and has embedded himself into English vernacular, inspiring the phrase ‘it’s all a bit Heath Robinson’ to describe any precarious or unnecessarily complex contraption. Born in London, he originally had ambitions to be a landscape painter, but would establish his artistic reputation as a book illustrator during the genre’s so-called golden age. It was his association with weekly illustrated magazine The Sketch that was to launch and cement his legacy as a humorous artist. Combining a distinctive draughtsmanship with a curious and ingenious mind, the advent of the First World War inspired Heath Robinson to dream up a series of increasingly outlandish and bizarre military inventions with which the opposing armies would try to outwit each other. From the kaiser’s campaigning car or a suggestion for an armoured bayonet curler, to post-war ‘unbullying’ of beef, his cartoons are a fantastically absurd take on wartime technology and home-front life. Sadly, his inventions were rejected by a (fictitious) ‘Inventions Board’, but the charm and eccentricity of his ideas was loved by the public and he remains to this day one of the finest exponents of humorous British art.

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Elizabeth Longford has chosen eleven Victorian women who in their actions or writing challenged the repressive rules of established society. They include Charlotte, Emily and Anne Bronte, whose cloistered lives were illuminated by the vividness of their creative genius; Josephine Butler, who brought about the end of the infamous Contagious Diseases Acts; Annie Besant, who campaigned vigorously for the rights of women subject to unreasonable husbands or harsh employers; Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose novel Uncle Tom's Cabin brought the cruelties of slavery to the world's attention; and James Barry, born Margaret Bulkley, medical reformer and arguably the first British female to qualify as a suregon. Eminent Victorian Women is a highly readable account of this period of struggle for women's rights and of some of the remarkable personalities who took part.

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The dynastic struggles of the Wars of the Roses (1455-85) have traditionally been portrayed as belonging to one of the most dramatic periods in the history of England, an age of murder and melodrama. In this classic history of the wars, charting their origins, progress, conclusions and effects, Professor Lander sets the record straight. By putting the wars into their contemporary context, using the written records of the time (many of which are reproduced in the text) and the results of modern research and scholarship, the true picture emerges. The wars were, in fact, very limited. While not denying that contemporary English society was disorderly and violent, Lander suggests that this state of affairs was due far less to civil war than to habits of violence among all classes of society. Fluently and clearly written "The Wars of the Roses" is the perfect overview of one of the most famous of medieval conflicts. Shedding light, as it does, on fifteenth-century history as a whole, the roots of the Tudor dynasty, and the background to Shakespeare's history plays, this book deserves a place on the bookshelf of anyone interested in this most turbulent period.

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Perkin Warbeck, pretender to the English throne, claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York & Norfolk, the younger of the two sons of Edward IV imprisoned in the Tower of London by Richard III, and whose true fate is unknown to this day. He led two attempts to claim the crown, but was captured by Henry VII and hanged at Tyburn. This book looks at who Warbeck really was, how he was used by those in power in Burgundy, France, Italy, Scotland and Ireland, and the progress of the conspiracy itself. It has often been considered to be a side issue to Henry's reign, but this book reveals how close the conspirators came to bringing about a fundamental change in European politics. Importantly, Ian Arthurson not only sets the plot within the context of what was happening in fifteenth-century Europe, but also reveals important truths about Henry's reign in England. Illustrated with a wealth of contemporary portraits, paintings, engravings and documents, The Perkin Warbeck Conspiracy will appeal to anyone with an interest in fifteenth-century history.

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Charles Cruickshank provides a full account of the German invasion, the subsequent landings of various British agents, raids and an attempt to end the occupation using psychological warfare. He also looks at how the islanders and Wehrmacht lived, the reality of collaboration with the occupying powers and the extent of support for the Resistance.

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An exploration of murders in Northamptonshire from 1852 to 1952. A chapter is devoted to each murder featured. Kevin Turton covers not only the events and subsequent investigation but also the trial of the killer and public reaction to the crime. Featuring many illustrations including newspaper cuttings, penny dreadfuls, and photographs of the crime scenes as they are today, this book is a comprehensive reference to the county's dark past.

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This biography of Xenia, sister of Nicholas II gives a new angle on the Romanov story and provides new information on relationships within the family after the Revolution. Important new letters and photographs are also included.

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Until the beginning of the nineteenth century Kilmarnock lived by what was produced locally. But after the Industrial Revolution many industries found a home in the town, producing goods from whiskey to carpets and from shoes to heavy machinery. Kilmarnock Memories records the growth of this Ayrshire community from its earliest origins as a sleepy village to the thriving town it has become. in over 200 pictures Frank Beattie tells the story of Kilmarnock, its people, buildings, industries, churches adn parks. Featured here are images of the town centre before its heart was ripped out by the developers in the 1970s. Also included are scenes showing Kilmarnock during wartime and at work and play.

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A series of natural disasters in the Orient during the 14th century caused the most devastating period of death and destruction in European history. One third of the people in Europe were killed over a period of just three years, and there was social and economic upheaval on an unparalleled scale. Philip Ziegler's overview of this crucial event synthesises the records of contemporary chroniclers and the work of later historians in one volume. This illustrated narrative presents the full horror and destruction the disease had, and how much it contributed to the disintegration of an age.

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Travel for pleasure developed greatly in the 18th century, and here Jeremy Black examines travel on the Continent, the so-called "Grand Tour". He considers not only the standard destinations of France and Italy, but also the Low Countries, Germany, Switzerland and the Balkans. The modes of transport are described in detail, along with the range of accommodation, the food and drink, the pleasures and the hazards of travel, ranging from sex and sensibility to debt and dysentery, as well as the effects of the French Revolution on the British tourist. Jeremy Black includes extensive quotations from eighteenth-century tourist correspondence, including neglected manuscript collections, to build up a vivid and frequently amusing picture of travel experiences of British aristocrats on the continent.

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Following the success of his previous publications Wargaming: an Introduction and Ancient and Medieval Wargaming, Neil Thomas presents a new volume devoted to the intricacies of Napoleonic wargaming. Thomas sets out his wargame rules, the principles behind them, extensive army lists, how to set up a game and a battle report describing a war game in progress. The appendices provide a full range of support material such as figure sizes. Napoleonic Wargaming also includes historical background and the art of Napoleonic warfare to provide essential contextual information for players. This book is an invaluable tool for wargamers and coincides with the bicentenary of the wars themselves.

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Lady Sidekick has gathered up all the tired tropes for women so you don't have to! From the Femme Fatale to the Crazy Cat Lady, the Bridezilla to the Girl Next Door, it calls them out and, most importantly, RECLAIMS them. For too long women have been pigeonholed into a handful of tired and basic characters, their personality and behaviour criticised if they don’t fit the role society thinks they should be playing. Lady Sidekick analyses fifty of the most moth-eaten, antiquated, cookie-cutter females clichés, archetypes and tokens that twenty-first-century women are SO over. Through hilarious breakdowns, comic illustrations and tongue-firmly-in-cheek-fuelled study, it slow-roasts each trope, sprinkling them with sarcasm, seasoning them with feminism, infusing them with activism, before serving them up ready for the modern masses to enjoy. It’s time to shove a stick of dynamite up the arse of the out-of-date – and Lady Sidekick is ready to light the wick. Happy trope-spotting!

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Suffolk – a peaceful, rural county with big skies, rolling fi elds, unspoilt beaches, quaint towns and villages. But all is not as quiet as it seems. Could that be the eerie clanking of gibbet chains at the crossroads? Did you see a desolate face at an upper window or a spectral white form lurking in the hedgerow? Cats are not always lucky – and beware a north Suffolk Broad in the still, small hours of Midsummer Night . . . Kirsty Hartsiotis and Cherry Wilkinson retell, with spine-chilling freshness, thirty fabulous ghost tales from all corners of this beguiling county. So pull up a chair, stoke the fire and prepare to see its gentle landscape in a new light.

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Can air power alone win a war?That has been the question since the Second World War. Air attacks failed miserably in Vietnam: Operation Linebacker had little effect, while bombing Hanoi just increased hatred for America – yet air strikes in both Iraq and Libya helped bring about regime changes. No-fly zones may have worked in the Balkans, but they might as well not have been there for Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.From the Luftwaffe’s massed attack on Britain to NATO’s interventions in Libya, aerial warfare has changed almost beyond recognition. The piston engine has been replaced by the jet, and in some cases the pilot has been completely replaced by the microchip. Carpet bombing is now a global positioning system and laser pinpointed strikes using precision-guided munitions. Whereas a bomber’s greatest enemies were once fighters and flak, the threats have now morphed into smart missiles from half a world away.In this compelling study, celebrated defence expert Anthony Tucker-Jones charts the remarkable evolution of aerial warfare from 1940 to the present day.

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A wonderful book that shares rare knowledge in a clear and focused way. I love it. - Tristan GooleyBird Tracks: A Field Guide to British Species explores and enhances the ability to identify a diversity of birds using just their tracks and trails. John Rhyder and David Wege approach this subject from the perspective of both the tracker and the birdwatcher. They have examined and described 139 species, each richly illustrated with a mixture of photographs and drawings of their unique tracks and trails.Bird Tracks is a comprehensive guide for trackers and birdwatchers interested in studying species found around the British Isles, and will also be of great use across northwestern Europe. Written by experts in their respective fields, this work represents several years of research collated into the most in-depth study of British bird tracks published to date.

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The murder of the Princes in the Tower is the most famous cold case in British history. Traditionally considered victims of their ruthless uncle, there are other suspects too often and too easily discounted. There may be no definitive answer, but by delving into the context of their disappearance and the characters of the suspects, Matthew Lewis examines the motives and opportunities afresh, as well as asking a crucial but often overlooked question: what if there was no murder? What if Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York, survived their uncle’s reign and even that of their brother-in-law Henry VII?In this new and updated edition, compelling evidence is presented to suggest the Princes survived, which is considered alongside the possibility of their deaths to provide a rounded and complete assessment of the most fascinating mystery in history.

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The stone barn, especially the long tithe barn, is one of the iconic features of the Cotswold landscape. This book is a systematic look at the design, construction and changing use of the Cotswold barn and its place in the rural economy and landscape.Text and illustrations trace the barn’s development from the earliest surviving medieval estate and tithe barns, through the growth of the wool trade, the dissolution of the monasteries, the decline in church holdings and the agricultural revolution, down to an era where increasing mechanisation changed the life of farming communities, eventually bringing economic depression and leaving the majority of the stone barns redundant in today’s landscape.The book concludes with a look at the recent revival of barns through their conversion for housing, business, educational and cultural purposes, and with a glossary of the major surviving barns.

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‘The inventions, the innovations, the stories, the surprises. A combination of history, reference and entertainment – something for every seafarer and many others too.’ - Vice Admiral Sir Tim LaurencePeople have been sailing for thousands of years, but we’ve come some distance from longboats and clippers. How did we arrive here?In fifty tales of inventors and innovations, Sails, Skippers and Sextants looks at the history of one of our most enjoyable pastimes, from the monarch who pioneered English yachting to the engineer who invented sailboards. The stories are sometimes inspiring, usually amusing and often intriguing – so grab your lifejacket, it’s going to be quite an adventure.

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These lively and entertaining folk tales from one of Britain's most ancient counties are vividly retold by Leicestershire Guild of Storytelling. Their origins lost in the oral tradition, these thirty stories from Leicestershire and Rutland reflect the wisdom (and eccentricities) of the counties and its people. Leicestershire and Rutland have a rich and diverse collection of tales, from stories of epic battles and heroic deeds to legends of mythical creatures and ghostly goings-on. These stories, illustrated with twenty-five line drawings, bring alive the landscape of the counties’ rolling hills and fertile plains. Leicestershire Guild of Storytelling is a group of professional storytellers who have been collecting and telling traditional stories for fifteen years. They regularly organise festivals and storytelling events.

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Mining is Britain’s oldest industry, and this book follows the men and, in the past, women who spent their lives working underground. Since the New Stone Age various minerals have been wrested from British soil – copper, tin, gold, lead – but in later periods the key commodity was coal. Those who worked in the mines were constantly battling on two fronts: there was the continual danger of flood and explosion; and the often bitter struggles against the mine owners. This story is also one of invention and innovation, looking particularly at how the independent miners of Cornwall and Devon were at the forefront of the development of the steam engine that was to transform society. This, the second book in an exciting new series looking at Britain’s most dangerous industries, is a tale of blood, sweat and death among a courageous and close-knit community that has now all but passed into history.

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Using a wealth of previously unpublished postcards and photographs, Peter Treloar takes the reader on a fascinating journey around the Cornish coast of yesteryear. Whilst the scenery, which is well covered, has remained the same, the people, forms of transport, town centres and fashions have changed. This unique collection depicts many of those dramatic changes that have taken place during the past century. From Morwenstown in the north to Torpoint in the south, this Cornish tour traces the history of the coastal towns it encompasses, the evolution of the fishing and shipping industries and that of the railways which put these beautiful towns on the tourist route. This book will appeal to maritime enthusiasts and all those who wish to know more about the history of the coastal settlements. It is sure to evoke nostalgic memories for those who remember Cornwall over many years, whilst giving insight into the past for those visiting the area.

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This fascinating collection of biographies chronicles the lives of some of Nottingham's most famous (and in some cases infamous) personalities. Inside these pages, you will find Civil War legends such as Colonel John Hutchinson, Naval adventurer Edward Fenton - who sailed with the pirate Martin Frobisher in search of the Northwest passage - and Victoria Cross winning air aces, as well as brave soldiers who fought against enemies as varied as the Zulus, the Spanish, the Confederates and the King. Illustrated with over eighty pictures Heroes & Villains of Nottingham is a must-read for all those interested in the history of Nottingham.

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A creepy collection of true-life tales from local writer Andrew James Wright, who regularly gives talks on the subject of hauntings in Leicester.

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This seminal period of British history is a far-off world in which poverty, violence and superstition went hand-in-hand with opulence, religious virtue and a thriving cultural landscape, at once familiar and alien to the modern reader. John Matusiak sets out to shed new light on the lives and times of the Tudors by exploring the objects they left behind. Among them, a silver-gilt board badge discarded at Bosworth Field when Henry VII won the English crown; a signet ring that may have belonged to Shakespeare; the infamous Halifax gibbet, on which some 100 people were executed; scientific advancements such as a prosthetic arm and the first flushing toilet; and curiosities including a ladies’ sun mask, ‘Prince Arthur’s hutch’ and the Danny jewel, which was believed to be made from the horn of a unicorn. The whole vivid panorama of Tudor life is laid bare in this thought-provoking and frequently myth-shattering narrative, which is firmly founded upon contemporary accounts and the most up-to-date results of modern scholarship."Everything you wanted to know about the Merrie England of the Tudors and some things you probably did not. If the Tudors seem far removed, they are also curiously modern. They had spectacles and metal prosthetic arms, while a “fuming pot” was but a prototype Air Wick. Matusiak’s mini essays accompanying the photographs are perfectly sculpted and the book is beautiful to hold." - Charlotte Heathcote, The Sunday Express

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The sea realm has ever been mysterious: strange happenings upon it, an unfathomable abyss of ‘The Great Unknown’ below. Before the scrutiny of scientific Enlightenment and Age of Reason, in the eighteenth century, ghost ships and oceanic monsters were the stuff of superstition, myth and legend to explain the inexplicable, to enthral the imagination – and enliven the unimaginable.Narratives of phantom ships manned by ghostly (sometimes skeletal) crews, or damned like the Flying Dutchman to roam the seas forever; of sinister, sinuous sea serpents; and the lore of the terrible multi-tentacled kraken. Accounts inspired spirited controversy amongst believers and sceptics, in the awestruck thrill of such frightful enigmas.

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Did you know that if you look closely around Scafell Pike in the winter you might find a great dragon? Or that hidden in the forest around Egremont you might catch a glimpse of the fabled fairy folk? What, you don’t believe me? Read these tales then take a look for yourself. This collection is full of stories that Taffy has told over the years, and that children love to hear time and again. Including a gang of smugglers and an ugly face-pulling competition, not only will children love to read them, or listen to them being read, the tales will also stimulate an interest in the area, and help children engage with their own surroundings wherever they live.

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