Search results for ""Author David Brandon""

A pub with a deceased barmaid who simply refuses to leave, a Grey Lady in the Theatre Royal; a poltergeist in the Garrick's Head pub; a man in a black hat at the Assembly Rooms. Bath is one of the few British cities which may justifiably be called beautiful. It is also one of the most haunted of British cities. Bath is an ancient place and, at the height of its fashionable popularity in the eighteenth century, it was almost the country's alternative capital and the scene of social intrigues and skulduggery of the sort that its ghosts seem to reflect. Even the Circus, regarded as the epitome of the classical in domestic architecture, has a ghostly young lady who sings. This book combines a love and appreciation of Bath with the recounting of tales about its best-known ghosts. David has also researched local archives to find less familiar phantoms, spooks and spectres.

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The General Strike was one of the most significant events in twentieth century Britain. The miners were locked out and the mass of rank-and-file trade unionists then came out on strike in their support. With their families and some middle-class sympathisers, the miners and the labour and trade union movement found itself pitched against the political establishment, the apparatus of the state, the powerful mineowners backed by the Conservative Government and most of the media of the time in what was the sharpest form of class conflict short of political revolution. It had always said that the British didn't do general strikes. In 1926 they certainly did! 2026 will mark the one-hundredth anniversary of the General Strike and, under the very different economic, social and political conditions of post-industrial, post-Brexit Britain, it is worth revisiting and examining the complicated coming together of factors which were eventually to lead to those extraordinary days in May 1926 when the fate of the nation lay in the balance. The author examines the economic, social and political processes taking places from the mid-nineteenth century and argues that this major confrontation between labour and capital was probably inevitable. He examines particularly the symbiotic relationship between the coal miners and the railway workers and the troubled industrial relations in those industries. His informed and lucid account should interest students of modern British history, labour history and the fortunes of the railways in this period.

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This book contains all manner of grim and ancient punishments from London’s long and bloody history. Over the centuries, many hundreds have expired inside the capital’s dank, rat-infested cells, or whilst ‘dancing the Tyburn jig’ at the end of a swinging rope, and many of the sites in this book have become bywords for infamy. From the Tower and Newgate prison to the Clink and the Fleet, this book explores London’s criminal heritage; also including the stocks and pillories that lie, almost forgotten, in churchyards and squares across the City, and the many shocking punishments exacted inside the region’s churches, workhouses and schools, it is a heart-breaking survey of our nation’s penal history. Richly illustrated, and filled with victims and villains, nobles, executioners and torturers, it will delight historians, residents and visitors alike.

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Tyburn Fields is the best known site of execution in London, but London may be aptly named the executioner's city, so many were the places where executions could and did occur. This book reveals the capital as a place where the bodies of criminals defined the boundaries of the city and heads on poles greeted patrons on London Bridge.

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Between 1835 and the 1850s, railway mania blossomed around Britain. Crime emerged as the railways developed, at first opportunistic crimes such as fare evasion and robberies, but gradually more inventive forms evolved, notably the minor clerk Redpath in the 1850s, whose shameless cooking of the books to live the high life exposed the lack of any kind of accountancy across the railway industry. The first train murder was not until the 1840s, and sparked great fear of foreigners as a German was charged and hanged for the crime. The outcry resulted in the communication cord being introduced to the railway carriages, so that no longer would they exist as completely separate spaces and passengers could alert the driver to any assault within. This fascinating history covers all varieties of crime on the railways and how it has changed over the years, from assaults and robberies, to theft of goods, murder, vandalism, football and other crowd activity, suicide on the line, fraud and white collar crime, and also looks at the use of railway crime in film and literature.

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The Making of London explores the rich history of the Metropolis from the Roman settlement established 2,000 years ago in the area that came to be known as the 'Square Mile' and traces the process whereby it eventually emerged as the world's greatest city. London became the capital and seat of government of Britain, a centre of culture, entertainment and retailing, a major port and industrial centre and world leader in international trade, commerce and finance. The focus is largely on central London but necessarily brings in other nearby districts when events involved interaction with these. While examining a selection of major historical events, consideration is also given to some of the more unusual and quirky aspects that have contributed to making London the diverse and fascinating place it remains today. A largely chronological approach is taken which emphasises how the lives of the ordinary people were shaped by the events they witnessed such as invasions, riots and rebellions, fires, smogs, wars, epidemics and pandemics. The story embraces the apparent glamour of areas such as Mayfair and the West End but does not neglect districts stalked by crime, poverty and despair. London has always been a place of paradoxes where flaunted wealth has existed alongside appalling social deprivation. The juxtaposition of extravagance and poverty, of high culture with the lowest of low life is a recurrent theme in London's history. The Making of London will interest newcomers wishing to know about London's past but even those familiar with its history are likely to find something new in its pages.

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Ghosts traditionally make their presence felt in many ways, from unexplained footfalls and chills to odours and apparitions. This fascinating volume takes a look at some of the strange and unexplained hauntings across the length and breadth of Britain’s railway network: signals and messages sent from empty boxes; trains that went into tunnels and never left; ghostly passengers and spectral crew; the wires whizzing to signal the arrival of trains on lines that have been closed for years… Based on hundreds of first-person and historical accounts, Shadows in the Steam is a unique collection of mysterious happenings, inexplicable events and spine-chilling tales, all related to the railways. Compiled by David Brandon and Alan Brooke, acknowledged experts on railways and the supernatural, and including sections on the London Underground and railway ghosts in literature and film, this book will delight lovers of railways and spooky stories alike.

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London's Underground is associated with a multitude of ghostly stories and sightings, particular stations and abandoned lines, many of which are in close proximity to burial sites from centuries ago. This chilling book reveals well-known and hitherto unpublished tales of spirits, spectres and other spooky occurrences on one of the oldest railway networks in the world. The stories of sightings include the ghost of an actress regularly witnessed on Aldywch Station and the 'Black Nun' at Bank Station. Eerie noises, such as the cries of thirteen-year-old Anne Naylor, who was murdered in 1758 near to the site of what is now Farringdon Station, and the screams of children who were in an accident at Bethnal Green Station during Second World War, are still heard echoing. These and many more ghostly accounts are recorded in fascinating detail in this book, which is a must-read for anyone interested in the mysterious and murky history of London's Underground.

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London: City of the Dead is a groundbreaking account of London's dealing with death, covering the afterlife, execution, bodysnatching, murder, fatal disease, spiritualism, bizarre deaths and cemeteries. Taking the reader from Roman London to the 'glorious dead' of the First World War, this is the first systematic look at London's culture of death, with analysis of its customs and superstitions, rituals and representations. The authors of the celebrated London: The Executioner's City (Sutton, 2006) weave their way through the streets of London once again, this time combining some of the capital's most curious features, such as London's Necropolis Railway and Brookwood Cemetery, with the culture of death exposed in the works of great writers such as Dickens. The book captures for the first time a side of the city that has always been every bit as fascinating and colourful as other better known aspects of the metropolis. It shows London in all its moods - serious, comic, tragic and heroic-and celebrates its robust acceptance of the only certainty in life.

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Microstructural characterization is usually achieved by allowing some form of probe to interact with a carefully prepared specimen. The most commonly used probes are visible light, X-ray radiation, a high-energy electron beam, or a sharp, flexible needle. These four types of probe form the basis for optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, and scanning probe microscopy. Microstructural Characterization of Materials, 2nd Edition is an introduction to the expertise involved in assessing the microstructure of engineering materials and to the experimental methods used for this purpose. Similar to the first edition, this 2nd edition explores the methodology of materials characterization under the three headings of crystal structure, microstructural morphology, and microanalysis. The principal methods of characterization, including diffraction analysis, optical microscopy, electron microscopy, and chemical microanalytical techniques are treated both qualitatively and quantitatively. An additional chapter has been added to the new edition to cover surface probe microscopy, and there are new sections on digital image recording and analysis, orientation imaging microscopy, focused ion-beam instruments, atom-probe microscopy, and 3-D image reconstruction. As well as being fully updated, this second edition also includes revised and expanded examples and exercises, with a solutions manual available at http://develop.wiley.co.uk/microstructural2e/ Microstructural Characterization of Materials, 2nd Edition will appeal to senior undergraduate and graduate students of material science, materials engineering, and materials chemistry, as well as to qualified engineers and more advanced researchers, who will find the book a useful and comprehensive general reference source.

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This is an introductory text for students of materials science and engineering interested in the scientific background to the joining and assembly of components in engineering systems. The principles of joining and the common methods employed to achieve a reliable joint are covered in chapters that all conclude with a summary of the points covered, and a set of problems for individual study, or class discussion. In the first chapters, thorough introductory overviews are given of firstly, the mechanical, chemical and physical phenomena related to surfaces, contacts and joins. In subsequent chapters, any necessary metallurgical or chemical background is adequately covered to enable students to understand the basic principles of a variety of joining methods, microelectronic devices and vacuum assemblies. Contents: Introduction; Surface Science; The Mechanics of Joining; Mechanical Bonding; Welding; Weld Metallurgy; Soldering and Brazing; Metal-ceramic Joints and Diffusion Bonding; Adhesives; Vacuum Seals; Micro-electronic Packaging.

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Ernest Marples revolutionised three UK government departments. At Transport (1959-1964) he appointed Dr Beeching chairman of British Railways and commissioned him to produce his infamous report, inaugurated motorways and introduced significant regulations for motorists. At Housing (1951-1954) he delivered 300,000 new houses annually and as Postmaster General (1957-1959), he reformed Post Office accounting systems and launched postcodes and Subscriber Trunk Dialling. This first biography of Marples uses newly-available archives to examine public and private transport policy, the growing power of the pro-road lobby and the identification of personal freedom with driving. Railway sentimentalism was no match for these. Marples was lucky not to be implicated in the Profumo Affair which rocked the Conservative Party but his political career was over soon afterwards. Questionable business practices caused his 1975 flight to Monaco hotly pursued by the Inland Revenue. Beeching, unhappy under a Labour government, returned to private industry although he later chaired a Royal Commission. Labour, despite promises, proved little friendlier to the railways but a more positive approach to loss-making passenger services eventually emerged under Barbara Castle. This book should appeal to those interested in Britain's railways and in mid-Twentieth Century British politics.

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