Ian Passingham – författare

It is now 50 years since 1966 and all that. We've all heard Kenneth Wolstenholme's famous TV commentary: "Some people are on the pitch...They think it's all over...It is now" countless times. But, aside from that and a few other classic facts, what do most of us really know about the 1966 World Cup finals? 66: The World Cup in Real Time retells the story of the iconic 1966 World Cup finals as if they were happening today - in a complete and highly-readable format. Live newspaper-style reports of all the matches, alongside reaction, off-field news and gossip from all 16 nations, form the basis of this unique book and bring the tournament back to life for the reader. There are tales of players breaking curfews, the England WAGS of the day, the Queen nervously asking how long was left as the clock ticked down in the final; while football's first-ever drug-testing programme left the Brazil team worrying whether drinking coffee would lead to failed drug tests! Take yourself back to the era of Beatlemania, mini-skirts, black and white TV, Harold Wilson's Labour government, the Cold War, and relive England's greatest-ever footballing triumph!

'Gentleman, we may not make history tomorrow, but we shall certainly change the geography.' So said General Plumer the day before 600 tons of explosives were detonated under the German position on Messines Ridge. The explosion was heard by Lloyd George in Downing Street, and as far away as Dublin.Until 1918, Messines was the only clear cut Allied victory on the Western Front, coming at a time when Britain and her allies needed it most: boosting Allied morale and shattering that of the Germans. Precisely orchestrated, Messines was the first true all-arms modern battle which brought together artillery, engineers, infantry, tanks, aircraft and administrative units from a commonwealth of nations to defeat the common enemy. So why is its name not as familiar as the Somme, Passchendaele or Verdun?This book examines the battle for the Messines-Wytschaete Ridge from the British, ANZAC and German perspectives. Illustrated with archive photographs and maps, it is a major contribution to our understanding of one of the seminal battles of the First World War.

Convinced that both God and the Kaiser were on their side, the officers and men of the German Army went to war in 1914, confident that they were destined for a swift and crushing victory in the West. The vaunted Schlieffen Plan on which the anticipated German victory was based expected triumph in the West to be followed by an equally decisive success on the Eastern Front. It was not to be. From the winter of 1914 until the early months of 1918, the struggle on the Western Front was characterised by trench warfare. But our perception of the conflict takes little or no account of the realities of life ‘across the wire’ in the German trenches. This book redresses that imbalance and reminds us how similar these young German men were to our own Tommies. Drawing from diaries and letters, Ian Passingham charts the hopes and despair of the German soldiers, filling an important gap in the history of the Western Front.