History

To refer to the private life of Charles II is to abuse the adjective. His personal life was anything but private. His amorous liaisons (read more)

To refer to the private life of Charles II is to abuse the adjective. His personal life was anything but private. His amorous liaisons were largely conducted in royal palaces surrounded by friends, courtiers and literally hundreds of servants and soldiers.

Gossip radiated throughout the kingdom. Charles spent most of his wealth and his intellect on gaining and keeping the company of women, from the lowest sections of society such as the actress Nell Gwyn to the aristocratic Louise de Kerouaille. Some of Charles' women played their part in the affairs of state, colouring the way the nation was run.

Pub Date:05/05/2016 (hide)

When Charles I was executed, his son Charles II made it his mission to search out retribution, producing the biggest manhunt Britain (read more)

When Charles I was executed, his son Charles II made it his mission to search out retribution, producing the biggest manhunt Britain had ever seen, one that would span Europe and America and would last for thirty years. Men who had once been among the most powerful figures in England ended up on the scaffold, on the run, or in fear of the assassin's bullet. History has painted the regicides and their supporters as fanatical Puritans, but among them were remarkable men, including John Milton and Oliver Cromwell.

Don Jordan and Michael Walsh bring these remarkable figures and this astonishing story vividly to life in an engrossing, bloody tale of plots, spies, betrayal, fear and ambition. (hide)

From John Nichol, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Spitfire, comes a passionate and profoundly moving tribute to the Lancaster (read more)

From John Nichol, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Spitfire, comes a passionate and profoundly moving tribute to the Lancaster bomber, its heroic crews and the men and women who kept her airborne during the country's greatest hour of need. 'The Avro Lancaster is an aviation icon; revered, romanticised, loved. Without her, and the bravery of those who flew her, the freedom we enjoy today would not exist.'Sir Arthur Harris, the controversial chief of Royal Air Force Bomber Command, described the Lancaster as his 'shining sword' and the 'greatest single factor in winning the war'.

RAF bomber squadrons carried out offensive operations from the first day of the Second World War until the very last, more than five and a half years later. They flew nearly 300,000 sorties and dropped around a million tons of explosives, as well as life-saving supplies. Over 10,000 of their aircraft never returned. (hide)

In THE COLDITZ STORY, Pat Reid told the story of the escape academy that sprang up inside the most impregnable German POW camp of (read more)

In THE COLDITZ STORY, Pat Reid told the story of the escape academy that sprang up inside the most impregnable German POW camp of the Second World War, ending appropriately with his own incredible escape from Colditz. But Reid's own break-out was by no means the last. In this enthralling sequel, he follows the fortunes of the escape academy right up until the arrival of the allied forces in April 1945.

These tales of fantastic bravery and stunning ingenuity are every bit as mesmerising as the original. A true classic, LATTER DAYS AT COLDITZ is the bestselling conclusion to the story of the infamous German P.O.W. camp. (hide)

Pub Date:13/01/2015 - Mary Queen of Scots is perhaps one of the most controversial and divisive monarchs in regal history. Her story (read more)

Pub Date:13/01/2015 - Mary Queen of Scots is perhaps one of the most controversial and divisive monarchs in regal history. Her story reads like a particularly spicy novel, with murder, kidnap, adultery, assassination and execution. To some she is one of the most wronged women in history, a pawn used and abused by her family in the great monarchical marriage game; to others, a murderous adulteress who committed regicide to marry her lover and then spent years in captivity for the crime, endlessly plotting the demise of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England.

This book covers the entire breath-taking scope of her amazing life and examines the immense cultural legacy she left behind, from the Schiller play of the 1800s to the CW teen drama Reign. Temptress, terrorist, or tragic queen, this book will give you the lowdown on one of history's most misunderstood monarchs. (hide)

With the intimacy and wit of a Second World War Bridget Jones, Eileen Alexander offers a portal into life during the Blitz: - The (read more)

With the intimacy and wit of a Second World War Bridget Jones, Eileen Alexander offers a portal into life during the Blitz: - The sex, joys and cruelties of young love - for Eileen with a man who had just inadvertently involved her in a car crash, for her friends with some less-than-honourable specimens - The frustrations of coming of age in an era 'suspended between an unborn tomorrow & dead yesterday' - The tragedies of rationed textiles ('apropos French Knickers & Respectability ... You've no idea what a lot of difference a bit of elastic can make'), With Eileen, a Jewish woman in her twenties crackling with intelligence, we sink into the reality of wartime London - particularly as it was lived for women. She is hilariously caustic about colleagues and political figures, confessional to the gossipy and emotional extremes, and brilliantly frank on the feeling of derailed hopes and ambition. (hide)

PThis remarkable work pulls the lid off one of the legendary air forces in history at the very peak of its power-unveiling the and (read more)

PThis remarkable work pulls the lid off one of the legendary air forces in history at the very peak of its power-unveiling the and machines as they truly existed day-to-day, underneath the propaganda of their own regime and the scare stories of their enemies. In Hitler's Germany, colour photography was primarily co-opted for state purposes, such as the military publication Signal, or the Luftwaffe's own magazine, Der Adler (Eagle). But a number of men had cameras of their own, and in this painstakingly acquired collection, originally published in France, we can witness true life on Germany's airfields during the period of the Luftwaffe's ascendancy.

Thus not only do we see famous planes such as the Me-109, Ju-87 or He-111, but the wide variety of more obscure types with which the Germans began the war. The array of Arados, Dorniers, Heinkels - not to mention elegant 4-engine Condors - that were initially employed in the war are here in plain sight and full colour, providing not only an insight into WWII history but a model maker's dream. Just as fascinating are the shots of the airmen themselves, along with their groundcrews - full of confidence and cheer as they bested every other air force in Europe during these years, with the single exception of the RAF's Fighter Command in late-summer 1940.

Published on 31/10/2016 (hide)

15/1/09 Mad, bad and sad. From the depression suffered by Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath to the mental anguish and addictions of (read more)

15/1/09

Mad, bad and sad. From the depression suffered by Virginia Woolf and Sylvia Plath to the mental anguish and addictions of iconic beauties Zelda Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe. From Freud and Jung and the radical breakthroughs of psychoanalysis to Lacan's construction of a modern movement and the new women-centred therapies. (hide)

This fascinating story of madness reveals the radically different perceptions of madness and approaches to its treatment, from antiquity (read more)

This fascinating story of madness reveals the radically different perceptions of madness and approaches to its treatment, from antiquity to the present day.
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Magna Carta is the most famous document in English history. And yet its survival is purely accidental. King John, who negotiated (read more)

Magna Carta is the most famous document in English history. And yet its survival is purely accidental. King John, who negotiated the document with his rebellious barons, had no intention of honouring its contents.

Annulled by the pope within weeks of being issued, it was destined to oblivion. But with the sudden death of John, all of this changed. Magna Carta was reissued by the regents of the boy King Henry III as an apology for past misrule and as a promise of future good government.

It was reissued on successive occasions and repeatedly cited in legal cases in the following centuries. Later, it played a part in conflicts such as the English Civil War and the US Wars of Independence. Echoes of Magna Carta are to be found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.
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