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This is the story of a young Royal Artillery officer, Lieutenant Ronald Williams, who was held as a prisoner of war in the Japanese-occupied Dutch East Indies from 1942–45. It is a true account of the alternate horror and banality of daily life, and the humour that helped the men survive the beatings, deprivation and death of comrades. Told through the diary and papers of Williams and others, Jungle Journal includes many cartoons and poems produced by the prisoners, as well as extracts from the original Jungle Journal, a newspaper created by the men under the noses of their guards. Ronald Williams was the ‘editor'of this potentially fatal ‘publication'. Jungle Journal describes the survival of hope even in desperate straits, and is a testament to those men whose courage and fortitude were tested to the limit under the tropical sun.

October 1944: Soviet troops launched a powerful attack on Budapest from the south, the culmination of a series of military, political, diplomatic and underground moves undertaken by Hitler, Stalin and Churchill since the collapse of the Axis front in the Balkans two months earlier. However, what had been planned as a bold stroke to knock Hungary out of the war and bring the Red Army as far as Munich quickly became a statemate. The end result was taht Stalin's forces failed to reach Bavaria, but the dictator was not disappointed: Soviet pressure against the German southern flank forced Hitler to transfer a consdierable number of his armoured reserves to Hungary and thus largely facilitated Zhukov's drive on to Berlin. Here, Kamen Nevenkin tells the fascinating story of this'Market Garden'-like operation using a number of never before published German and Russian archival documents, including German papers exclusively held in the Russian militiary archive. The text is dynamic, easy to read and accompanied by previously unpublished photographs. A detailed tactical narrative, Nevenkin also uses first-person accounts to render a human tale of war to create an ultimately fascinating read.

Association football in Ireland has a wonderful, rich and, indeed, fraught history. From its early days as the ‘Garrison Game'it has grown to be the most popular sport on the island. This book explores that rich history as well as the legends, the teams and the memorable moments, all intertwined with tales of humour, strife and political skulduggery. Here you can immerse yourself in Ireland's footballing culture and the famous names and games that remain in the collective memory. You will also discover strange and obscure facts about the game on the Emerald Isle, the quirky and the unusual that have created a rich and vibrant tapestry. A reliable reference book and a quirky guide, this will be dipped into time and again to reveal something new about the sport, the legends and the characters who have created such a vibrant past and present.

By the time of the Armistice in 1918, around 6.5 million prisoners of war were held by the belligerents. Little has been written about these prisoners, possibly because the story is not one of unmitigated suffering and cruelty. Nevertheless, hardships did occur and the alleged neglect and ill-treatment of prisoners captured on the Western Front became the subject of major propaganda campaigns in Britain and Germany as the war progressed.'Barbed Wire Disease'looks at the conditions facing those British and German prisoners, and the claims and counter-claims relating to their treatment. At the same time, it sets the story in the wider context of the commitment by both governments to treat prisoners humanely in accordance with the recently agreed Hague and Geneva Conventions. The political and diplomatic efforts to abide by the new rules are examined in detail, along with the use of reprisals against prisoners, Britain's voluntary relief effort and the effect of face-to-face negotiations at the height of the war. This comprehensive analysis, using unpublished official files and cabinet papers, concludes by documenting the first ever efforts to bring war criminals to justice before international tribunals.

Princess Victoria Melita played a colourful role from her birth in 1876. The second daughter of Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, she made a brief and unhappy marriage at the age of 17 to her cousin, Ernest, Grand Duke of Hesse. In the face of strong opposition from her family she divorced him seven years later and married another cousin, Grand Duke Cyril of Russia, resulting in three years of exile. When revolution toppled the empire in 1917, the Grand Duke and Duchess and their children escaped to Finland, living in danger for three long years. Following the atrocities of the Bolsheviks at the time, including the murder of most of the Romanov family, the Grand Duke believed he was the senior surviving member of the imperial house, and proclaimed himself Tsar. However, they were never able to return to their homeland, and the Grand Duchess died in exile in 1936. Using previously unpublished correspondence from the Royal Archives and Astor papers, this is a portrait of the Princess, set against the imperial courst of the turn of the 20th century and inter-war Europe.

By 1966 the steam locomotive was entering its death throes: withdrawals were being carried out at a frenetic pace, with the slightest defect sending engines straight to the cutter's torch.In an attempt to capture the British steam scene before it was no more, teenage enthusiast Keith Widdowson made it his mission to travel the length and breadth of the country to obtain runs behind as many locomotives as possible. Armed with a Southern Region season ticket and enjoying the camaraderie of fellow devotees, Keith quickly amassed many catches and great mileage, but countless overnight and lengthy expeditions to the north of England and Scotland throughout the summer of 1966 were needed to complete the picture.With a multitude of photographs, maps and notebook extracts, Chasing Steam in 1966 is a window into a bygone age. Join Keith on his 47,000-mile journey that takes in the demise of the Somerset & Dorset and ex-Great Central lines, and showcases the hunt for the handful of remaining Jubilees, capturing all the joys and frustrations of a great steam chase.

A collection of Scottish coastal folk tales.'The sea is in our blood and our stories.'

In the 1960s and 1970s the suburb of Woodhouse, along with many similar areas in Leeds, was undergoing a sweeping transformation. These photos illustrate that transformation, from groups of back-to-back terraces to late twentieth-century houses of differing types amid green spaces. All the photographs were taken at the time by a student, who is one of the authors of the book. At their heart are not just houses and shops but the people who lived or worked in them. The people bring the old images to life, and the affect of the changes on their lives are part of the story which the pictures record.

However diverse our origins, our histories can always be explored through the tales we tell. Stories are our worldwide language, making sense of our experiences and conveying them to others. They are the messengers between our inner and outer worlds – the bridge between individuals and societies.Within these pages you will see how these traditional story forms have developed over time, evolving with and, in turn, shaping cultural change. Journeying across five continents, you will also travel through time with our earliest creation myths, folk tales, legends and urban myths as your steadfast companions. Some have been polished by countless voices for thousands of years, and all have passed from ear to ear and page to page in a testament to the richness of many cultures, and a single, shared humanity.

Step back in time to 1964, a year of cultural upheaval and political transformation. From the rise of the Civil Rights movement in the United States to the global phenomenon of Beatlemania, this was the year that gave us bold fashion, unforgettable music and social change that continues to shape society across the world today.While Britain's new Labour government promised the ‘white heat of technology', on the world stage 1964 saw the escalation of the Vietnam War, Nelson Mandela's sentence to life imprisonment and the continued brinkmanship of the global arms race. Brand-new subcultures clashed at Margate beach, where thousands of Mods and Rockers fought over their differing values, while London's Carnaby Street shone vibrantly in the country's capital and women flocked to Mary Quant's iconic designs, empowered by changing social sensibilities and rising hemlines.In this captivating blend of historical events, cultural trends and personal anecdotes, Christopher Sandford tells the full and colourful story of the year that ushered in the modern era.

'As this book shows, the women of the Durham coalfield played an equal role in shaping daily life and trajectories of history in the region, just as women today are building their own futures in communities around the world.'- Hillary Rodham Clinton The final book in a series charting the true family history of a Durham coal-mining family, which started in the 1830s The Second World War took its toll on all sections of society. The appeal for women to work outside of the home in the many ammunition factories to support the war effort was taken up by many women from the colliery villages. They worked for eight hours at the factory, taking up their care-giving roles and all that involved, when they returned home. Their days continued to be long and strenuous. After the war the government introduced a series of initiatives intended to improve the lives of the nation. A reformed education system was introduced in 1944, nationalization in 1947 and a national health service in 1948. At last things were looking up for coal-mining families. With this bright new horizon, little did the women in Hannah's family realize that they would represent the last generation of women of the Durham Coalfield.

The Sussex landscape is here celebrated by writers and poets, both famous and lesser-known, as we trace their search for rural peace and beauty in the tumultuous years 1850 to 1939. For the first time we trace the corpus of Sussex writing which was connected to those wider events but was equally a hymn of praise to rural Sussex, seen as nourishing, sympathetic and, for some, a retreat from the stresses of burgeoning city life or the horrors of mechanised warfare. We meet Wilfred Blunt and learn of his love for his Wealden countryside; we encounter the complex Hilaire Belloc; the acute observations of Richard Jefferies and Rudyard Kipling; and the modernity of Virginia Woolf. Lesser-known writers are included too, such as Charles Dalmon or Dr Habberton Lulham, who loved spending time with the downland shepherds or with travelling folk among the byways of the county.

Yorkshire is a testament to the enduring power of stone. From the imposing walls of Skipton Castle to the ruins of Whitby Abbey, the inhabitants of England's largest county have evidently found both beauty and practicality in the use of stone for thousands of years. But amidst these well-known and relatively recent historic sites lies a host of monuments of extreme antiquity, built up to six thousand years ago.Drawing upon new research, excavation notes and diagrams, Yorkshire's Prehistoric Monuments aims to reveal the secrets of one of Britain's richest archaeological landscapes. Yorkshire's standing stones, burial cairns and extensive earthworks are among Northern Europe's best-preserved prehistoric relics. Featuring original photography and newly illustrated diagrams compiled over several years of travel and writing, Adam Morgan Ibbotson invites you to take a journey into a landscape sculpted by ancient hands.

There had been stars before. There had been films prior to Cleopatra. But in all the cynical, greedy, magical, histrionic history of the movies, there had never been a combination like that of Elizabeth Taylor and Cleopatra.Other films may have taken more money, won more awards or attracted better reviews, but none have come close to the legend that is Cleopatra.What began in 1958 as a remake of the 1917 Theda Bara film, which starred Joan Collins and was projected to cost $2 million, would open five years later, having cost nearly twenty times as much. The budget had skyrocketed enormously as the production went through extravagant sets in two different countries, two directors and six leading men – and this was on top of Elizabeth Taylor's $1 million fee.But it was the off-screen romance between the two on-screen leads that really cemented Cleopatra's place in cinema history. Within weeks of Richard Burton's arrival in Italy, he and Taylor embarked on a tumultuous and passionate love affair that kept the Cuban Missile Crisis off the front pages and was denounced by the Vatican. Cleopatra and the Undoing of Hollywood is a story of lust, excess and hubris – and how one film nearly brought Hollywood to its knees.

South-east England, 1740s: war and heated politics bring the old practice of smuggling to new and dangerous heights. Violent gangs of smugglers terrorise communities and confound government attempts to stop them. The most famous of these, the Hawkhurst Gang, operate like a modern drug cartel fuelled by illegal tea. They threaten witnesses and authorities, brandish weapons in public, and fight battles in the streets, murdering and kidnapping those who get in their way.Enter a world filled with gangsters, corrupt politicians, crooked law enforcement, and vigilantes, brought to the brink by Britain's most notorious smuggling gang.

Everybody loves stories and Scotland is full of them. Every town, village, glen, loch, nook and cranny has a tale to tell and it's these stories that bring those places to life. Scotland's Stories is the key to unlocking those legends and seeing these incredible places in a new light. Loch Garve looks very different when you know there's a Kelpie lurking somewhere in its depths. There's a new appreciation for the iconic Eilean Donan Castle after discovering the man who built it spoke with birds. An empty moor or wooded gorge is easily brought to life with the clashing sounds of a battle fought long ago.Based on the popular travel blog from storyteller Graeme and Molly the Labrador, these tales will appeal to all who love history, folklore and Scotland.

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.

Alan Turing is a patron saint of Manchester, remembered as the Mancunian who won the war, invented the computer, and was all but put to death for being gay. Each myth is related to a historical story. This is not a book about the first of those stories, of Turing at Bletchley Park. But it is about the second two, which each unfolded here in Manchester, of Turing's involvement in the world's first computer and of his refusal to be cowed about his sexuality.Manchester can be proud of Turing, but can we be proud of the city he encountered?

Boxing Day 1962: Sunderland's star striker Brian Clough suffers a career-ending knee injury when he collides with an outrushing goalkeeper. After a forlorn battle to regain fitness, he retires early and sinks into deep despair.October 1965: Clough persuades ex-'Boro teammate Peter Taylor to join him in managing perennial North-East strugglers Hartlepools United, lying next to bottom of the Fourth Division.A magical football odyssey has begun.Alchemy reveals the bittersweet reality of Brian Clough and Peter Taylor's first management job together. Lower-league Hartlepools United are penniless, with a meddling chairman, a ramshackle ground and want-away players. Yet the management pair tackle every challenge head-on, forging a winning blueprint that later transforms unfashionable Derby County and Nottingham Forest into League and European Cup champions.Exploiting a wealth of archive newspapers, plus interviews with those present at the creation, Alchemy exposes the humble origins of Clough & Taylor's meteoric rise to the top of the football tree.

‘There I met and was introduced to 13 men, one of whom I already knew. Three of these men and another who joined the group later have never, to my knowledge, been wanted by the police in connection with the train robbery so, for their protection, I will refer to them as, Joe, Bert, Sid, and Fred.'Ronnie BiggsIn the early hours of Thursday, 8 August 1963, sixteen masked men ambushed the Glasgow-Euston mail train at Sears Crossing in Buckinghamshire. Making off with a record haul of £2.6 million, the robbers received approximately £150,000 each (over £2 million in today's money). While twelve of the robbers were jailed over the next five years, four were never brought to justice – they evaded arrest and thirty-year prison sentences, and lived out the rest of their lives in freedom. In stark contrast to the likes of Ronnie Biggs, Buster Edwards and Bruce Reynolds, they became neither household names nor tabloid celebrities.Who were these men? How did they escape detection for so long? And how, almost sixty years later, are their names not common knowledge? In No Case to Answer, Andrew Cook gathers and examines decades of evidence and lays it out end-to-end. It's time for you to draw your own conclusions.

Norwich in the Second World War is the story of the city and its people, both civilian and military, from the construction of the first air raid shelters in 1938 through to VE Day in 1945 and the return of Far Eastern prisoners of war in 1946.Featuring first-hand accounts of what happened when enemy bombers raided the city, notably during the notorious Baedeker Blitz of 1942, rare photographs and documents make this book a must for anyone who knows and loves the city of Norwich.

Family history is one of the the most popular hobbies of recent years. In this book, you will learn how to find dates and events in your ancestors'lives, and it will help put flesh on the skeletons too, giving clear instructions of how to start researching your family history in Birmingham. Then you will begin to learn the full story of how Birmingham grew and how our'Brummy'ancestors lived, played and worked. This book is not just a'how to'book but also tells the story of how Birmingham expanded during the nineteenth century as our ancestors moved here to find work in the new industries. Some lived in the cramped conditions of back-to-back housing, whilst others prospered and joined the ranks of the more well-to-do.Not just the poor but the wealthy too all played their part in the development of this now-sprawling city.

For almost three hundred years, excavations have been carried out in Roman Bath. At first these were rare and sporadic and archaeological finds were made by chance. Even fewer were reported. But from the 1860s, deliberate investigations were made and increasingly professional methods employed. The Roman Baths were laid open to view, but little was published. From the 1950s, interest accelerated, professionals and amateurs collaborated, and there was never a decade in which some new discovery was not made.The first popular but authoritative presentation of this work was made in 1971 and updated several times. However, from the 1990s to the present there has been some sort of archaeological investigation almost every year. This has thrown much new and unexpected light on the town of Aquae Sulis and its citizens. In this book, Peter Davenport, having been involved in most of the archaeological work in Bath since 1980, attempts to tell the story of Roman Bath: the latest interim report on the ‘Three Hundred Year Dig'.

The West Country's colourful past encompasses a pageant of historical figures and peculiar stories – from Lawrence of Arabia's flamboyant motorbike forays across Dartmoor and the terrifying account of a lion attack on the Exeter mail coach, to Devonian wives still being sold at auction until the 1900s and the unsolved mystery of the Devil's footprints at Dawlish. Here too lies the truth about the location of Arthur's Lyonesse, the devilish deeds of the murderous pirate queen of Penryn, and the Cornish knight who ordered his corpse to overlook St Mullion for eternity.All these tales and more can be found in this collection of amusing, surprising and downright odd true stories from Devon and Cornwall.

Cumbria is a land built from stone.Whether it is Hadrian's Wall, Kendal Castle or the beautiful fells of the Lake District – for thousands of years people have found a certain elegance and utility in stone. Nestled amongst these common relics are a multitude of massive stone monuments, built over 3,000 years before British shores were ever touched by Roman sandals. Cumbria's'megalithic'monuments are among Europe's greatest and best-preserved ancient relics but are often poorly understood and rarely visited.This updated and revised edition of Cumbria's Prehistoric Monuments aims to dispel the idea that these stones are merely ‘mysterious'. Within this book you will find credible answers, using up-to-date research, excavation notes, maps and diagrams to explore one of Britain's richest archaeological landscapes. Featuring stunning original photography and illustrated diagrams of every megalithic site in the county, Adam Morgan Ibbotson invites you to take a journey into a land sculpted by ancient hands.

From a cantankerous brownie in Dolphinton to the vampire with iron teeth who terrorised Glasgow, this collection of tales spans fourteen centuries of Lanarkshire's history and happenings. Here you will find the legends of William Wallace's love and loss in Lanark and Saint Mungo's bitter feud with the Pagan hierarchy and Druids, alongside totemic animals, unique Scottish flora and fauna, warlocks, herb-wives and elfin trickery.Allison Galbraith combines storytelling expertise with two decades of folklore research to present this beguiling collection of Lanarkshire stories, suitable for adults and older children.

People love hearing about a grisly murder; gasping at the gory details, wondering about the motives, deducing who did it. This macabre fascination is nothing new. In the past racehorses, greyhounds and even a ship have been named after some of the most notorious murderers, and it doesn't look like our interest is waning any time soon.London Murders is a unique guidebook that explores the darker side of London?s history, pinpointing the exact locations of the bloodiest, most intriguing and sinister murders. It describes in detail the events, the characters involved and the eventual fates of the perpetrators, which include playwrights and politicians, celebrities and spies, royalty, aristocrats and, of course, countless ordinary Joes.Featuring infamous names such as Crippen, Kray, Haigh, Christie and Ellis, whose terrible crimes shocked the world, London Murders matches crimes to locations as David Long walks the reader through the city's streets, whilst revealing their tragic and awful histories.

Did you know English people were around before the country of England was invented?It's true: just over 1,000 years ago, English people lived in several smaller countries all over the island of Britain. A Saxon king called Alfred is famous for starting to bring these countries together – but who finished the job? Another Saxon king? A monk? Or was it... a Viking?In this fantastically illustrated book, storyteller Chip Colquhoun explores fact and folklore to see what they tell us about the birth of a country. After enjoying these tales of deadly battles, singing kings and miraculous queens, can you work out Who Made England?

This enchanting collection of stories gathers together legends from across Scotland in one special volume. Drawn from The History Press'popular Folk Tales series, herein lies a treasure trove of tales from a wealth of talented storytellers. From the Spaeman's peculiar advice and a laird who is transformed into a frog, to a fugitive hiding in a dark cave and the stoor worm battling with Assipattle, this book celebrates the distinct character of Scotland's different customs, beliefs and dialects, and is a treat for all who enjoy a well-told story.

What do you think happened when Jack refused to do his chores? Do you think you're clever enough to hide from Dundee's dragon? Watch out for Lefty the spider dying to tell you his story about life in the glen … The stories in this book are of animals, beasties and monsters that are fast and cunning and scary and big. And they are ready to tell their tales to you …

Folk Tales and lore are woven into the ancient landscape of Devon: swimming in the rivers, soaring with the buzzards over farms and moors and making soft tracks across the sands of a wild coastline. In Devon Folk Tales for Children you'll find goblins tinkering in the old ore mines, a changeling hare-woman who runs by the light of the moon, and pixies playing on the old pack routes trodden by the hooves of Dartmoor ponies. This beautifully illustrated collection of tales from storyteller and artist Leonie Jane-Grey will take you on a wild and magical adventure through the ancient lands of Devon.

In 1858 the ‘Great Stink of London'made much of the city along the River Thames uninhabitable. Between 1848 and 1854 nearly 25,000 Londoners died of cholera, a disease borne by foul water. Joseph Bazalgette saved the city, building sewers that would serve 4 million people and stop waste water emptying into the Thames. These remarkable sewers are still the backbone of London's sewerage system today, but the city's population is now approaching 10 million. The old sewers can't cope with the needs of modern-day London and action needs to be taken to ensure that ‘The Great Stink'never happens again. This is where the Thames Tideway Tunnel comes in: a £4.2 billion, 25km-long, 7.2m-diameter tunnel that will stop virtually all of the sewer overflows into the Thames and give us a cleaner and healthier river and city. The Thames Tideway Tunnel: Preventing Another Great Stink is the inside story on the tunnel, from the very start to breaking ground and all the steps along the way. Written by Phil Stride, a leading civil engineer, it is a unique chance both to see behind the scenes of an incredible civil engineering project that will transform the environment, and to meet the people who've taken the project forward over the last ten years.

The military toll of World War I is widely known: millions of Britons were mobilised, many thousands killed or wounded, and the landscape of British society changed forever. But how was the conflict experienced by the people of Surrey on the home front? Surrey Heritage's project Surrey in the Great War: A County Remembers has, over the four-year centenary commemoration, explored the wartime stories of Surrey's people and places. The project's discoveries are here captured through text, case studies and images. This book chronicles the mobilisation of Surrey men, the training of foreign troops in the county, objection to military service, defence against invasion, voluntary work and fundraising, the experiences of women and children, shortages, industrial supply to the armed forces and the commemoration of Surrey's dead. Drawing heavily on the rich archives of Surrey Heritage, it is an engaging exploration of a county in the shadow of the first globalised war between industrialised nations.

Once upon a Milton Keynes … Buckinghamshire is an ancient county of Roman forts and highwaymen, motorways and urban myth. These are the Buckinghamshire folk tales of past, present and future: old tales in new towns, and new stories from old legends. Look out for witches and dragons, mind all those roundabouts, and whatever you do – don't eat the stew.

This volume includes papers on political, religious, social and economic history and the history of ideas during the 15th century. The papers challenge existing conceptions and open new avenues of discussion on longstanding debates. Themes covered include parliaments and their relationships with the monarchs of the period, both in Scotland and in England; queens and their role in the 15th century English polity; the ideas that lay behind the English claims to the French throne, and the rituals of peace-making in the Hundred Years War. Debates over the importance of lordship and service are also touched upon, in a paper which examines Lord Hastings'retainers in the defence of Calais, while another chapter discusses the local politics of a small Welsh marcher lordship. The crucial subject of Lancastrian government finances in the 1450s also receives a fresh examination. In religious history, papers examine the activity of monastic propagandists and the religious life of cathedrals through the activity of fraternities based in them. There are also considerations of a noble widow, and of the 15th century rural economy.

The First World War claimed over 995,000 British lives, and its legacy continues to be remembered today. Great War Britain: Liverpool offers a detailed insight into this great city and its people facing the challenges of wartime. This highly accessible volume explores the city's regiments, and includes many individual stories of men on the frontline and the vital role of women against the background of the changing face of industry, attitudes to conscientious objectors, hospitals for the wounded and their rehabilitation, peace celebrations, the fallen heroes and how they are commemorated.Liverpool Central Library & Record Office have generously made available illustrative and other material from their extensive archives.

Norman Cross was the site of the world's first purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp built during the Napoleonic Wars. Opened in 1803, it was, however, more than just a prison: it was a town in itself, with houses, offices, butchers, bakers, a hospital, a school, a market and a banking system. It was an important prison and military establishment in the east of England with a lively community of some 7,000 French inmates.Alongside a detailed examination of the prison itself, this detailed and informative book, compiled by a leading expert on the Napoleonic era, explores what life was like for inmates and turnkeys alike – the clothing, food, health, education, punishment and, ultimately, the closure of the depot in 1814.

Why did London have to wait so long for a main line railway beneath its streets? For a few years in the mid-nineteenth century, Isambard Kingdom Brunel's broad gauge Great Western trains ran from Reading to Faringdon. Now, after many false starts, his vision is being realised as the Elizabeth Line carries passengers from Reading to the City once again and beyond Essex to Kent, using engineering that would have earned the admiration of the greatest Victorian engineers. London historian Stephen Halliday presents an engaging discussion of the fascinating origins and heroic engineering that made it all possible.

Where do stories come from, and how do we come to know them?Daughters listen with wonder to their grandmothers'tales. Journalists have their trusted sources. Writers of storybooks draw unconsciously from the works of their predecessors. It is as if every story has within it an infallible truth, contained in the echo of its original telling. The storyteller recounts the tale. The listener hears, learns and remembers. In due course they will retell the same tale, adding in something of their own. And so listeners in time turn into storytellers.This inspiring book brings together the stories from across the world of listeners who themselves became storytellers. They reveal who influenced them the most, what drew them further in, what they learnt, and what they now wish to share with new generations.Tips, tools and tales: read this book, and take your turn.

STORYTELLERS Lindsey Gibb & C.A. Hope bring together stories from Perthshire, the heart of Scotland, with its bleak moors and majestic mountains, rushing rivers and great woodlands. In this treasure trove of tales you will meet witches and faeries, black dogs and dragons, the Cailleach and those mysterious painted people, the Picts – all as fantastical and powerful as the landscape they inhabit. Retold in an engaging style, and richly illustrated with unique line drawings, these humorous, clever and enchanting folk tales are sure to be enjoyed and shared time and again.

Bristolians'love of banter and outlandish gossip provides a perfect environment for the urban legend to breed, expand and ferment. One can never be sure that these stories are not in fact entirely true – or that the truth behind them may not be stranger than the legend itself.What one can be sure of is that these stories have been passed, with increasing delight, from child to child, from uncle to aunt, from granddad to everybody, until they have become right rollicking tales. Forget small talk – this here is Bristol Urban Legends.

From muddy creek to naval-industrial powerhouse; from constructing wooden walls to building Dreadnoughts; from maintaining King John's galleys to servicing the enormous new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers: this is the story of Portsmouth Dockyard.Respected maritime historian Paul Brown's unique 800-year history of what was once the largest industrial organisation in the world is a combination of extensive original research and stunning images. The most comprehensive history of the dockyard to date, it is sure to become the definitive work on this important heritage site and modern naval base.

Woven from the ancient fabric that is the landscape of the West Midlands and passed down through the generations, these stories from a modern county with a rich and varied history are brought together by local storyteller Cath Edwards. Here are mysterious tales and local legends. Here are witches and noodleheads, ghosts and magpies, mines and wishing trees. Retold in an engaging style, and stylishly illustrated with unique line drawings, these humorous, clever and enchanting folk tales are sure to be enjoyed and shared time and again.

This bold and striking new anthology showcases Cornwall's finest contemporary writers, combining established and new voices.Ghosts walk in the open and infidelities are conducted in plain sight. Two teenagers walk along a perfect beach in the anticipation of a first kiss. Time stops for nothing – not even for death. Sometimes time cracks, disrupting a fragile equilibrium. The stories are peopled with locals and incomers, sailors and land dwellers; a diver searches the deep for what she has lost, and forbidden lovers meet in secret places. Throughout, the writers'words reveal a love of the incomparable Cornish landscape.

From a single beginning, countless millions of stories from the animal kingdom have – and continue to – run their course. Museum objects allow us to investigate some of those stories. Animal Kingdom journeys through both the evolutionary history of animals, and the ways that people have interpreted them in museums. Animals in museums are not only representatives of their entire species, but they also tell us something about the time in which they were collected. They provide windows into the past as well as data for the present. They embody centuries of natural ecosystems and human cultures. Through a selection of 100 objects, telling 100 stories, this beautifully illustrated book explores the diversity of animal life over the past 600 million years, and delves into some of the most exciting mechanisms in evolution. By understanding some of the key stories of how nature operates, we can gain amazing insight into the systems underlying life itself.

A BALLAD is a poem or a song that tells a popular story and many traditional British ballads contain fascinating stories – tales of love and jealousy, murder and mystery, the supernatural and the historical. This anthology brings together nineteen original retellings in short story form, written by some of the country's most accomplished storytellers, singers and wordsmiths.Here you will find tales of cross-dressing heroines, lusty pirates, vengeful fairy queens, mobsters and monsters, mermaids and starmen – stories that dance with the form and flavour of these narrative folk songs in daring and delightful ways.Richly illustrated, these enchanting tales will appeal to lovers of folk music, storytelling and rattling good yarns.

It is a commonly held assumption that all Victorian prisons were grim, abhorrent places, loathed by their inmates. This is undoubtedly an accurate description of many English prisons in the nineteenth century However, because of the way in which prisons were run, there were two distinct types: convict prisons and local prisons. While convict prisons attempted to reform their inmates, local prisons acted as a deterrent. This meant that standards of accommodation and sanitation were lower than in convict prisons and treatment, particularly in terms of the hard labour prisoners were expected to undertake, was often more severe. Whichever type of prison they were sent to, for many prisoners and convicts from the poorest classes, prison life compared favourably with their own miserable existence at home.

Throughout the Victorian period, life-threatening diseases were no respecter of class, affecting rich and poor alike. However, the medical treatment for such diseases differed significantly, depending on the class of patient. The wealthy received private medical treatment at home or, later, in a practitioner's consulting room. The middle classes might also pay for their treatment but, in addition, they could attend one of an increasing number of specialist hospitals. The working classes could get free treatment from charitable voluntary hospitals or dispensaries. For the abject poor who were receiving poor relief, their only option was to seek treatment at the workhouse infirmary. The experience of a patient going into hospital at this time was vastly different from that at the end. This was not just in terms of being attended by trained nurses or in the medical and surgical advances which had taken place. Different methods for treating diseases and the use of antiseptic and aseptic techniques to combat killer hospital infections led to a much higher standard of care than was previously available.

STORYTELLER and author Adam Bushnell brings together stories from the rugged coastlines, limestone cliffs, remote moorland, pastoral dales and settled coalfields of County Durham. In this treasure trove of tales you will meet the evil fairies of Weardale, the shape-changing witch from Easington, the Bishop Auckland boar, the Dun Cow from Durham City and many other characters – all as fantastical and powerful as the landscape they inhabit.Retold in an engaging style, and richly illustrated with unique line drawings, these humorous, clever and enchanting folk tales are sure to be enjoyed and shared time and again.

The First World War claimed over 995,000 British lives, including the deaths of over a thousand'Men of Lancaster', and its legacy continues to be remembered today. This book looks at the impact that the loss of so many men had on the community and offers an intimate portrayal of Lancaster and its people living in the shadow of the'war to end all wars'.Drawing on detailed research conducted by the authors and their community partners, it describes the local reaction to the outbreak of war, the experience of individuals who enlisted, the changing face of industry, the women who defied convention to play a vital role on the home front, and how Lancaster coped with the transition to life in peacetime once more.The Great War story of Lancaster draws on all of these experiences to present a unique account of the local reality of a global conflict.