Jackie Strachan – författare

From the Private First Class who knows his place (above a Private but below a Lance Corporal), to the classification of the natural world (Species, Genus, Family, Order ...), we introduce hierarchies, pecking orders and ranks to every aspect of our lives, from society and religion to leisure and the law, establishing priorities and bringing order to our world. This miscellany of the various hierarchies that govern our existence ranges from the prosaically earthbound, in the form of roads and freeways, to the esoterically celestial, in the form of angels, seraphim, cherubims, archangels and so on. Who is more senior in a Chinese triad, a White Paper Fan or a Red Pole? What trumps a Straight Flush in poker? How many ranks are there between a Detective and a Colonel in the American police? What's the next step up from the Court of Appeal? What is a Royal Peculiar and where does it stand in the hierarchy of the British church? Which sea states lie between Calm and Phenomenal? In a Roman legion, how many men made up a Cohort and how many Cohorts a Legion? What is the hierarchy in the US government?Knowing where something - or someone - stands in the order of things helps us quite literally to put it into context.

Where shall we go today? Crook Peak, the Avalon Marshes, the Wye Valley? Or perhaps Bruton, Glastonbury or Clevedon? This book is packed with ideas for great days out within around an hour or so’s drive, with suggestions to suit your mood, schedule and starting point. From the Mendip Hills and Somerset Levels, to South Wales, the southern Cotswolds, the Coast and its resorts. Quirky facts and background information provide context, while divided into micro-regions, maps provide orientation. This guide will help you explore what is on the doorstep or to venture further afield along paths less travelled. Including:rural towns & picturesque villagesancient churches, historic houses & castlescombes, gorges & cavescanals, rivers & lakesgardens & nature reservesbeaches & the coastlinecafes, restaurants, pubs & barsentertainment, festivals & eventsactivities, walks & trailsshopping & marketsfarm shops & garden centrescheesemakers, cidermakers & vineyards

Fix Your Bike is a brilliantly straightforward, stylish and no-fuss guide to DIY bike maintenance and safety that does exactly what it says on the tin – teaching you the basics of bike maintenance so you can simply get on with riding your bike without encountering any further bumps in the road.Everyone's cycling nowdays. City streets are thronged with cyclists on the latest cool bikes, and more and more of us are cycling for fun at the weekends. You may love to cruise the streets and lanes with the wind in your hair, but would you be able to fix your bike if it let you down?Fix Your Bike is a brilliantly straightforward, stylish and no-fuss approach to getting you geared up and back on your bike in no time. It's a visually stunning, clear-cut and hands-on guide to DIY bike maintenance and safety that does exactly what it says on the tin. By teaching you the basics in plain terms and straightforward, step-by-step instructions you can simply just get on with riding your bike without encouraging any further bumps in the road. Speedy, easy and proficient, Fix Your Bike is full of shortcuts, tricks and techniques that all cyclists should know to help them get back (and remain) on the road.Smart and beautifully illustrated, this book will aid and encourage you in all areas of bike maintenance – from puncture repair to gear care, brake-tightening to chain-fixing – this brilliant roadside companion will help you bring out the best in your bike.Word count: 15,000Other forthcoming titles in this series: Fix Your Home and Fix Your Garden.

A stylish, practical guide to making your home beautiful and keeping it in tip-top condition, aimed at young urban professionals. A stylish, practical guide to making your home beautiful and keeping it in tip-top condition. Fix Your Home is an illustrated little guide to decorating and maintaining your home, aimed at young urban professionals who have just moved into their first flat. With no-nonsense writing and straightforward step-by-step instructions, it gives you all the basic home maintenance information you'll ever need, including putting up shelves, hanging pictures, wallpapering a room, saving energy and when to admit defeat and get the professionals in. On top of that, it contains a wealth of inspiration for decorating your abode on a shoestring, from window treatments to flooring to stylish home offices. Read this book and you'll be able to get all your home's little eccentricities under control, leaving you to get on with living your busy and exciting lifeWord count: 15,000

Just moved in and don’t know what to do with a messy garden or bleak-looking balcony? Want to stake your claim on a little corner of a shared garden? No gardening experience whatsoever? Fix Your Garden is the perfect solution.Packed with tips and tricks to get your green fingers going straight away, this beautifully illustrated little book will help you make the most of your outdoor space, even if you’ve only got a tiny windowbox. Aimed at the first-time homeowner or renter with little or no gardening know-how, it contains a wealth of information on how to make your garden grow and your balcony bloom, from early analysis of the soil to find out which plants will do best, to fixing that weed-covered wilderness of a backyard you’ve inherited and starting to grow your own fruit and veg. With tips on garden design and how to conquer common pests and diseases, this is a crash course in getting your outdoor space sorted, and also contains information on houseplants so you can bring a little bit of the outdoors in.Word count: 15,000