Search results for ""Author Maggie Ballinger""

British fishermen, crusaders, Explorers, smugglers, traders, Inventors, convicts, settlers in the hold. Pirates, shipwrights, whalers, And our navies’ trusted sailors: Presented here, in verse, their histories told. Since before Great Britain became an island, through the age when supremacy at sea established the largest empire the world has known, and moving right up to the present day, the nation’s maritime history is told in a unique way, in this celebratory gift book – Britannia’s Glory. Written in memorable verse, with narrative side notes, quotations and a number of original drawings, it is designed to be easily digested and dipped into, (rather than swallowed whole). Offering comprehensive coverage, its topics include piracy, privateering, disappearing villages, smuggling, seaside resorts, the iniquitous slave trade and why the seas round our coast afford limitless potential for the production of renewable energy. The reader will discover elements such as wars, battles and (sometimes unconventional) naval tactics, alongside ship development, fishing, trade, ports, dockyards, lighthouses, maps and navigation. There are tales of settlers, mutineers, heroic explorers and daring saboteurs, as well as ingenious inventors and other land-based folk earning their livings manufacturing rope or gutting herring. All contributed to a history that looks so very different when viewed from the sea. As a country, we may not know where we’re going, but we certainly know where we’ve come from.

Read more less

In 1936, the Duke of York unexpectedly became King George VI, and his ten-year-old daughter, Princess Elizabeth, became heir presumptive. However, she was never heir apparent, because a male sibling would automatically assume her place in the line of succession. So what would have happened upon the late arrival of a baby brother for the grown-up Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret? After King George VI’s death in 1952, the United Kingdom’s next sovereign would have been a very young boy, and one in need of a regent. James the Third tells that boy’s story. How does his reign unfold? He is clever, resourceful and unconventional − but can he alter the course of history, given the limited role of a constitutional monarch? Does he find true love, or must he accept second best? And, with the births of his heirs, what does the House of Windsor look like now? Set against rapidly changing times, there is a parallel tale of two working class sisters from the East End of London. As fans of the royal family, they are closer to the crown than they could ever imagine. Seamlessly blending the twists and turns of fiction with historical fact, this book is sure to please anyone who enjoys a glimpse of life behind palace walls.

Read more less