Nick Hardcastle – illustratör

In the 1930s Britain experienced an economic crisis, with high unemployment, wage cuts, benefit cuts and a deterioration in living standards. It was a decade noted for its austerity. Yet out of the recession came many positives. Industrial output saw remarkable growth between 1935 and 1938 and a housing boom brought smart new houses to replace slums. Communities benefited improved social services and more diverse leisure activities thanks to new technology, transport improvements and paid holidays. "1930s Britain" will provide a realistic portrait of a very diverse, and always fascinating, decade in British social history.

Mid-Georgian Britain was a period of both elegance and desperation. As the middle and upper classes enjoyed their wealth with an increasing range of consumer goods, the poor endured debtor's prison and an increasing number of crimes with the death penalty. This, the latest addition to the growing "Living Histories Series", charts the growth of the empire and looks at the growing importance of London as a capital city where the rich and poor rubbed shoulders. Jacqueline Riding creates a vivid portrait of the daily reality of life for a middle-class family in this age of growing affluence.