Geoffrey Howse – författare

Sheffield Past & Present gives a fascinating insight into the dramatic changes that have taken place in the city during the 20th century. The book recalls houses and public buildings, shops, factories and pubs that have vanished or been changed almost beyond recognition. The pictures show changing types of transport and fashion, and the developing character of streets and districts as they took on the form that is familiar today. The astonishing periods of growth that occurred during the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, and since the Second World War, are particularly well illustrated. Many aspects of the changing city are recalled - hospitals and schools, places of work and recreation, parks and squares, suburban streets and the main thoroughfares - and the pictures record the ceaseless building and rebuilding that characterises the city today. The author has combined a remarkable selection of archive photographs with modern views of the same scenes in order to record the transformation that has occurred. The book will add to the knowledge, appreciation and enjoyment of all those who take an interest in this distinctive city.

The Little Book of Yorkshire is a funny, fast-paced, fact-packed compendium of the sort of frivolous, fantastic or simply strange information which no-one will want to be without. The county’s most unusual crimes and punishments, eccentric inhabitants, famous sons and daughters, royal connections and literally hundreds of wacky facts about Yorkshire’s landscape, cities, towns and villages (plus some authentically bizarre bits of historic trivia), come together to make it essential reading for visitors and locals alike. Soak up the vast array of quirky tales from the regal Richmond of John of Gaunt to the sporting Barnsley of Dickie Bird. A handy little book for residents and visitors alike.

Doncaster thrived during the Georgian period, and continued to grow as a railway town in the nineteenth century. As a consequence, it can boast a rich architectural history, the influence of which can still be seen and appreciated in the fabric of the Doncaster of the modern day. Geoffrey Howse’s comparisons between archive images of the Doncaster of decades past and modern photographs of the same scenes today beautifully illustrates the changing face of this historic city, as well as the changes in society, transport and fashions.

Sheffield has built its worldwide reputation on steelmaking. For centuries the area was renowned for its cutlery and tools and from the mid-eighteenth century Sheffield began to build a reputation for the production of high-quality steels. A hundred years later the city’s name was synonymous with steel and today ‘made in Sheffield’ still guarantees the highest quality. In the Photographic History of Sheffield Steel, author Geoffrey Howse has chosen a wide cross-section of photographs of steel and cutlery production in and around the city, primarily from the fascinating collections at Kelham Island Museum. Many famous companies are featured, as are different production methods, a wide range of products from the vast numbers of items manufactured there (including gun barrels, shell cases and armour-plate), the steelworkers themselves and individual ‘Little Masters’. This book is essential reading for everyone who knows Sheffield, residents and visitors alike, while anyone connected with the steel and cutlery industries will find that these pictures stimulate memories of days one by.