Len Markham – författare

No event in history had such a profound and long-term effect as World War Two, it's consequences still helping to shape the modern world. With our trade routes harassed by U-boats, our skies darkened by the Luftwaffe and our beaches imperilled by the threat of invasion, the period from 1939 to 1945 was a frightening one for ordinary civilians. But the people of Yorkshire responded to the challenge with incredible fortitude, camaraderie, determination and good humour, the tireless efforts of armies of civilians keeping the British lamp of freedom trimmed. This unique compendium of many never-before-published personal reminiscences from the Yorkshire home front paints an astonishing picture of life in the war torn county. It records the tender and sometimes hilarious adventures of boys and girls, the selfless grind of workers in the mines and factories, the exhausting labours in allotments and fields and the bravery and dedication of the emergency services and other dedicated professionals who just put on their tin hats and worked on. Consigned to the memory banks for nearly seven decades, these stirring remembrances reveal the wealth of ingenuity and invention and the passionate bulldog spirit that kept our hopes alive during our darkest hours, the author also touching on the less heroic aspects of the period.

Over the centuries Yorkshire, the largest and most varied country in England, has helped to shape the history of the nation. From the barrier of the Pennines in the west to the bastion of Falmborough in the east, the region has seen war, insurrection, invention, industrial expansion, political and social development and pioneering achievements in literature, art and science. In this unconventional guide to the people and the places that played parts in this extraordinary story, author Len Markham takes the reader across the country and down the years. He retells the stories of many of the well-known sites and uncovers the intriguing, sometimes secret history of places that are rarely remembered and visited. Along the way he describes the careers and achievements of an exceptional cast of characters- monarchs, bishops, generals, industrialists, inventors, artists, renegades, rogues, eccentrics, murderers and otherwise ordinary men and woman who made a mark for good or ill on the heritage of the country. Over 150 evocative sites are described and illustrated in this invaluable handbook to the intense, sometimes bizarre and always revealing history of Yorkshire.