Hugh Rock – författare

Pub mugs form an interesting aspect of Britain's history. They were not just drinking vessels, but also measures, and as such the subject of much regulation, because drinkers wanted to be sure of receiving what they had paid for. The pint itself has a chequered history and is an anomaly alongside today's metric system. The question of a fair pint has never been resolved: should it include the 'head' or not? Drawing from a wide range of sources, the author has brought together all these strands to give the first ever overview of 350 years of beer mug history.

Since the medieval period, mechanical clocks located in churches across Britain have told the time to local communities, or displayed the phases of the moon and the heavens on an elaborate astrological face. Focusing on some of the most noteworthy church clocks in Britain, and the intriguing stories behind them, this book traces the history of church clocks from the wealthy abbeys and cathedrals of the medieval period, through the gentle developments and refinements that made clocks more accurate and easier to maintain, to the electronic movements of the present day that are steadily making redundant historic clocks that have served for centuries.