Search results for ""Author Brian Lee""

A collection of images and captions.

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A history of the Welsh Grand National

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THROUGH the reminiscences of local people, accompanied by around 100 photographs, this volume remembers the Cardiff of yesteryear. From the town as it was in the 1920s and ’30s to the city it became in 1955 and beyond, stories and memories from the local community are recorded here, providing a lasting memorial to Cardiff’s history. Taking in personal and public life, it offers a social history of the neighbouring communities that now form the city and, with great good humour and affection, the reminiscences preserve the memory of people and places long forgotten. In their own words Cardiff people tell us about the way that they have lived their lives and the conditions in which they have lived through over the past one hundred years. This excellent volume of memories and photographs paints a revealing picture of life in Cardiff over the past century, revealing a period of immense change that will fascinate readers both young and old. Also by Brian Lee in the Archive Photographs Series: Cardiff remembered, Cathays Maindy Gabalfa and Mynachdy, Central Cardiff, Central Cardiff: the Second Selection and Butetown and Cardiff Docks.

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A history of central Cardiff

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Before the Industrial Revolution Cardiff was a sleepy little town on the South Wales coast. That was until mules started arriving laden with coal from the Welsh valleys. The Industrial Revolution took hold, the coal and iron trade took off and a vast complex of docks spread rapidly around the town's natural harbour. The Glamorganshire Canal was built to transport the iron and coal, the railway arrived, and by the late nineteenth century Cardiff had become the largest coal-exporting port in the world.Ships sailed in and out of the harbour from all over the globe. Large numbers of migrant workers were attracted to the area creating the vibrant multi-national community of Butetown. but the decline in the coal and iron industries after the Second World War sounded the death knell for Cardiff's Docklands. By the 1960s Tiger Bay had become a scene of dereliction and with a final sweep of the bulldozers a whole way of life disappeared.Brian Lee tells the fascinating story of this exciting period in Cardiff's history, illustrated with his selection of more than 200 remarkable photographs which capture the spirit of the era: huge new docks opening, cargoes swinging from ship to shore, warehouses filled to overflowing, streets and pubs a flurry of activity, royal visits and carnivals, and a multitude of different vessels.

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This book is part of the Images of Wales series, which uses old photographs and archived images to show the history of various local areas in Wales, through their streets, shops, pubs, and people.

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A history of Cathays, Maindy, Gabalfa and Mynachdy

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Cardiff Remembered

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Horse racing may be famously known as the 'sport of kings' but, in the pursuit of prize money and getting one over the bookies, it also has attained a notoriety for some underhand, corrupt and downright illegal practices. Horse racing in Wales is not exempt from these dodgy dealings and on many occasions has led the way in it's ingenuity to devise jaw-dropping cons and cunning deceptions. In The Scams, Scandals and Gambles of Horseracing in Wales, Brian Lee, the veteran and highly regarded Welsh racing correspondent has, for the first time, compiled a comprehensive collection of true stories that reveals Welsh racing's most notorious crooks, loveable rouges and most infamous scams, including: The Oyster Maid affair, when a great gambling coup engineered at Tenby in 1927 nearly put paid to horse racing in Wales and was said by the Queen Mother's jockey, Dick Francis, to have been "the most bitterly resented betting coup National Hunt racing has ever known". The astounding story of Am I Blue's when, in 2010, a four-year-old filly, owned and trained by Aberkenfig's Delyth Thomas, romped home at Hereford after being backed from 25-1 to 5-1, despite having woeful form.As one reporter put it: 'There was outrage in some quarters and amusement in others. ' The elaborate switching of horses and the cutting of the telegraph wires at Bath races in 1953 which saw well-know Cardiff bookie Gomer Charles jailed for 2 years for fraud after his syndicate place GBP100k worth of bets on a 'ringer' racehorse that won at 20-1. The Scandals and Gambles of Horseracing in Wales includes stories both from racing 'under rules' but also from point-to-point, known as racing 'between-the-flags', as well as flapping (unlicensed racing). The stories in this enthralling book, in which the reader will meet many of the rogues of the turf, are informative as well as fascinating and will appeal to not only horse racing fans but also readers of true crime.

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Drawing on his detailed knowledge of the city’s history, in this book Brian Lee takes the reader on a pictorial journey of the Cardiff of yesteryear. A fascinating selection of archive postcards has been chosen to reflect the changing fashions and pastimes in the city. They also show changes in types of transport, and the developing character of streets and districts as they took on the form that is familiar today. Informative captions accompany the images to relate the history of the people and buildings. Including chapters on the castle, civic centre, city-centre streets, parks, religion, transport, the docks, leisure and sport and also the 1909 Pageant of Wales, this book is sure to enthral anyone who knows and loves this vibrant city.

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