"The spy system which was to make Rotterdam the biggest international spy centre in the world had begun." —James Dunn (MI5), 1914After World War I broke out, the port city of Rotterdam
For three centuries Portsmouth has been the leading base of the Royal Navy, although the history of the port can be traced back to Roman times. From the Roman walls of Portchester to the best preserve
Why is Henry Ford a giant? Because he put the world on wheels. Henry Ford did not invent the motor car, nor did he invent the assembly line or mass production. But more than anyone before or since he
Two sisters: born nine years apart to a mad French king during the turbulent years of the Hundred Years War, the bitter series of conflicts that set the House of Plantagenet against the House of Valoi
London is a city of enormous beauty, a dynamic, ever-evolving cityscape built up over hundreds of years of architectural evolution. Amidst this riot of growth and splendor, some truly iconic sights ma
Harry Clarke (1881-1931) was Ireland’s greatest stained-glass artist and was also an illustrator of genius, whose works have been collector’s items for decades. Over his short lifetime he produced a p
This book tells the story of the constituent parts of British Leyland, later Rover Group, from the merger in 1968 to the end of production of the last MG Rover in 2005. The story has been told before,
The Southern Railway was the only mainline railway to embrace electrification wholeheartedly, creating what was at the time the world’s largest electric suburban network. It was the only railway to us
From the saints of the Dark Ages to modern-day sinners, Galway Bay is the source of some of Ireland's most magical tales. In this book local storyteller Rab Fulton takes the reader through Galway's pa
The development of forensic medicine is chronicled through the cases of five great pathologistsThe development of forensic pathology in Britain is told here through the lives of five outstanding medic
Exploring a host of topics in a humorous and engaging style, this little gem of a book is a repository of intriguing, fascinating, obscure, strange and entertaining facts and trivia about Britain and
A new solution to a true-life murder mystery. Detailed anatomy of a murder which took place in Perthshire in 1866. In March 1866, Janet Rogers travelled to the Perthshire-based farm of her brother,
True crime stories from the early days of the Metropolitan Police Detective Branch capture the essence of Victorian crime?George Clarke joined the Metropolitan Police in 1841. Though a "slow starter,"
Taking you through the year day by day, The Plymouth Book of Days contains a quirky, eccentric, amusing, or important event or fact from different periods of history. Find out when Plymothians elected
Throughout the ages the horse has played a pivotal role in Irish society. It is a ubiquitous symbol in Ireland, present in many classic depictions of Irish culture, from the loyal work horse in the fi
A Grim Almanac of Lancashire is a day-by-day catalogue of 365 ghastly tales from around the county dating from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries. Full of dreadful deeds, macabre deaths, strange o
From the author of the acclaimed Heloise & Abelard comes?a new biography of Dante, following?his life through the turbulent world of late middle ages?The young Dante Alighieri was a love-sick poet
Prehistoric Cumbria is the first book to consider the development of Cumbria from the end of the last ice age until the arrival of the Romans. It discusses what life was like in the past in Cumbria, c
Rex Conway's first book, Rex Conway's Steam Album, was a wonderful miscellany of images that introduced a remarkable archive of railway photographs. This book takes the reader on a steam-hauled journe
A small church nestling deep in the countryside is instantly evocative. Why is it there at all? Whom does it serve? In a region by region guide to the smallest gems of Scottish ecclesiastical architec
The third in Guy Halford-MacLeod's series on the history of independent airlines in Britain after the Second World War, battling against ever-changing government policies, this well-organized book tak
This is the story of Britain's most illustrious warship, immortalized as Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship in the Battle of Trafalgar. Constructed from the wood of over 6,000 trees, HMS Victory was desig
From reports of haunted castles, hotels, public houses, chapels, and churchyards, to heart-stopping accounts of apparitions, poltergeists, and related supernatural phenomena, this collection of storie
By the time of its introduction into front-line service in July 1944 many Germans thought the ME 262 was capable of turning the tide of the Second World War. Accelerating to speeds well over 500mph, i
Peter Ghiringhelli’s turbulent childhood as the son of Italian Fascist parents saw him deported from England to Italy at the start of World War II. Here Peter witnessed at first hand what life was lik
Millions live there, millions more visit each year?but how many really know London? Do you know when Big Ben first bonged?or even who Ben was? Why the River Thames is so-called? Which top Nazi was loc
A detailed examination of the factors that led to this titanic struggle on the Eastern Front?Few battles attract interest so much as the Battle of Kursk. Operation Zitadelle, the code name given by Hi
Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort had nine children who despite their very different characters, remained a close-knit family. Inevitably, as they married into European royal families their l
From World War I, where we get a rare insight into the fighter operations over the fields of France, to the incredible Battle of Britain aeronautics, when the bravery of RAF fighter pilots saw off the
Sunderland: Building a City traces the physical development of the city of Sunderland, from the earliest settlement patterns into the new millennium. The story is an intricate one, showing how Sunderl
Designed as the ultimate long range fleet defence fighter interceptor for the US Navy, the Tomcat entered frontline service in 1973 as a replacement for the legendary F-4 Phantom II. The F-14 achieve
Like the Battle of Verdun, the Battle of the Frontiers has often been ignored by military historians, who assumed that the French lost the first battles of World War I because they launched suicidal b
A comprehensive history of Ireland's prehistorical archaeology Taking Ireland's first human colonization as its starting point, this history leads us on a journey through the vast, enigmatic landscape
Jane Whorwood was one of Charles I’s closest confidantes. The wife of an Oxfordshire squire, when the court moved to Oxford in 1642, at the start of the Civil War, she helped the royalist cause by spy
In the 1960s the citizens of Nottingham saw the greatest change in the city in the 20th century. In the previous decade, the city planners envisaged a dual carriageway which would encircle the center
Wales has less than one hundred of the two thousand miles of motorway constructed in Britain in the 20th century. However, the Principality can boast the first length of urban motorway, the first mot
The Picts, the most powerful nation in northern Britain for some 500 years, mysteriously disappeared from contemporary records in the ninth century. All that remains of the language they spoke are a f
The emergence of the motor car transformed the 20th century. This illustrated book examines the earliest history of the motor age, explaining the first attempts to develop a self-propelled road vehicl
The perfect guide to the British Army during the Second World War?·?????????To encapsulate the British Army in one book is no easy task, but here, George Forty presents it as it was during World War I
