Visar resultat för..."The History Press Ltd"

The largest, most luxurious ship in the world, wrecked on her maiden voyage after colliding with an iceberg mid-Atlantic, has become the stuff of legends. While everyone knows the new White Star liner was glamorous, full of millionaires when she sank, few appreciate just how luxurious she was. Even in Third Class, the accommodation was better than on First Class on many older ships.For the first time, Bruce Beveridge, Steve Hall, Scott Andrews and Daniel Klistorner look at the construction and exterior of the ship itself, and at her interior design and fittings. From cobalt blue Spode china and Elkington plate silverware in the à la carte restaurant to the design of the boilers and fixtures and fittings on board the world’s most luxurious vessel, they tell the story of a liner built at the peak of the race between the British, French and Germans to build bigger and better ships.

On the night of 14–15 April 1912, Titanic, a brand-new, supposedly unsinkable ship, the largest and most luxurious vessel in the world at the time, collided with an iceberg and sank on her maiden voyage. Of the 2,208 people on board, only 712 were saved. The rest perished in the icy-cold waters of the North Atlantic, and the tragedy has fascinated and perplexed the world ever since.This stunning book tells the story of not just the Titanic, but also of its sister ships, Olympic and Britannic. Maritime experts J. Kent Layton, Tad Fitch, and Bill Wormstedt tell the stories of these legendary liners with a compelling narrative alongside original artwork from up-and-coming artists, bringing to life the design, construction and service of the ships together with the wrecks of the ill-fated Titanic and Britannic.From the cold, starry night when Titanic collided with her iceberg to the tragic wartime loss of Britannic and the impressive reliability of the long-lived Olympic, this cinematic and immersive new study captures all of the glory and drama of the Olympic-class age and allows readers to visualise Titanic and her sisters like never before.

'Fluently written and convincingly argued, Blood and Iron is a brilliant account of an important period of history, and one that marks the arrival of a major new talent.' - Daily Telegraph'The best biography of the Second Reich in years ... It will undoubtedly become the essential account of this vitally important part of European history.' - Andrew Roberts'Outstanding, authoritative and gripping.' - Simon Sebag MontefioreBefore 1871, Germany was not yet a nation but simply an idea. Otto von Bismarck had a formidable task at hand. How would he bring thirty-nine individual states under the yoke of a single Kaiser, convincing proud Prussians, Bavarians and Rhinelanders to become Germans? Once united, could the young European nation wield enough power to rival the empires of Britain and France – all without destroying itself in the process?In a unique study of five decades that changed the course of modern history, Katja Hoyer tells the story of the German Empire from its violent beginnings to its calamitous defeat in the First World War. This often-startling narrative is a dramatic tale of national self-discovery, social upheaval and realpolitik that ended, as it started, in blood and iron.

Oceanic was the largest ship in the world when she was launched in 1899. The White Star Line’s ‘Ship of the Century’, she was their last express liner before the Olympic and Titanic and her lavish first-class accommodation became renowned among Atlantic travellers. Serving on the company’s express service for fifteen years, she earned a reputation for running like clockwork. Days after the outbreak of war, she was commissioned into the Royal Navy and converted into an armed merchant cruiser. However, her new-found status was not to last – she grounded on the rocks off Foula, in the Shetlands, within weeks and became a total loss. When she was wrecked, she had on board Charles Lightoller, Titanic’s senior surviving officer. Oceanic: White Star’s ‘Ship of the Century’ is the first book that looks at the entire career of this one-of-a-kind flagship. With human anecdotes, hitherto unpublished material and rare illustrations, Mark Chirnside’s book is a beautiful tribute to a unique ocean liner.

Some 66 million years ago, an asteroid some seven miles across slammed into the Earth, leaving a geologic wound over 50 miles in diameter. In the terrible mass extinction that followed, more than half of known species vanish seemingly overnight. But this worst single day in the history of life of Earth was as critical for us as it was for the dinosaurs, as it allowed for evolutionary opportunities that were closed for the previous 100 million years. In The Last Days of the Dinosaurs, Riley Black walks readers through what happened in the days, the years, the centuries and the million years after the impact. Life’s losses were sharp and deeply felt, but the hope carried by the beings that survived sets the stage for the world as we know it now.

‘Fascinating and elegantly written, Master & Cartographer introduces a largely forgotten naval hero of Stuart England’ – N.A.M. Rodger, author of The Safeguard of the Sea, The Command of the Ocean and The Price of VictoryThis is a book about maps and map-making, about power and class, and about war, seamanship and navigation. It is a study of wealth, patronage and money, in an England riven by religious disorder and toxic politics.Greenvile Collins (1643–94) was a naval warrant officer who caught the attention of a King. His seagoing career took him from Patagonia to the Arctic, into battles against Dutch men of war and Barbary corsairs, and to the slave markets and Silk Road ports of the Mediterranean. A scientific navigator, his professional drive drew him to Shetland, the Scilly Isles and all points in between, as he undertook the most ambitious hydrographic survey of the British coastline yet attempted.Then, even as he laboured to complete his monumental sea atlas, he was summoned yet again to the service of the Crown. The Glorious Revolution was a campaign of crisis for a deeply conflicted Royal Navy, and a crucial test of loyalty for Greenvile Collins and his fellow officers.‘Greenvile Collins emerges as a sympathetic hero, who served three kings while compiling invaluable charts and navigational data for his fellow sailors. Not since Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels have I enjoyed such rollicking armchair adventures at sea’ – Dava Sobel, author of Longitude

On Thursday, 5 April 1877, police charged 30-year-old Annie Besant and her colleague Charles Bradlaugh with breaching the Obscene Publications Act 1857. The reason was the scandalous sale of a slim book called The Fruits of Philosophy – a book that advocated for birth control in an era when parents were encouraged to keep their daughters ignorant and fearful. The publication of this guide, which the prosecutor in the trial referred to as a ‘dirty, filthy book’, made Annie famous.But this was not Annie’s first or last battle against Victorian social mores.She was a good Christian wife who became an atheist; a liberal campaigner who became a prominent socialist activist in the strikes and protests of the 1880s; a Theosophical High Priestess who became heavily involved in the Indian nationalist movement. Viewed as a dangerous threat to imperial government and authority, she was a fearless and formidable freedom fighter.Annie Besant lived an extraordinary and inspiring life, and yet because of her complexities and seeming contradictions, she has been sidelined by history.From politics to the occult, from Christianity to Theosophy and from the London suburbs to a pyre on the banks of an Indian river, The Nine Lives of Annie Besant tells the complete story of a woman who broke all the rules.

At 11.40 p.m. on 14 April 1912, RMS Titanic struck an iceberg. She sank less than three hours later, taking around 1,500 people down with her. Devastated survivors provided conflicting information about her final hours – did she slip gracefully below the waves in one piece, or did she violently break apart?The answer would not be confirmed for seventy-three years.Breaking Titanic is the first comprehensive study of the break-up of Titanic’s hull. Using eyewitness accounts, underwater archaeology reports and data from computer simulations, Eugene Nesmeyanov presents a critical analysis of the most significant theories and models of the break-up, drawing his own conclusions based on the available body of evidence.

‘A fresh look at the author’s enduring grip on our imagination.’ – SUNDAY MIRRORLondon had a special place in Agatha Christie’s heart. In her childhood, she would visit the capital to stay with her Auntie Grannie; as an adult, she owned several homes in the city. A reoccurring location in her stories, London is where Poirot and Hastings, and Tommy and Tuppence reside, and even Miss Marple cannot resist a trip up to town to shop in its department stores.Avoid red herrings, examine the clues to discover several of her former homes, use your little grey cells to detect where she worked during the Second World War, and probe where the former ‘Detection Club’ met. Gather the evidence to reveal the fashionable restaurants, luxury hotels and other locations that she and her characters frequented.On completion of your investigation, your denouement will reveal the final twist: just how important London was to Agatha and her stories.

Despite being the largest of the legendary Olympic-class trio, Britannic is often overlooked in comparison to Olympic and Titanic. Launched on the eve of war in February 1914, Britannic would never see service on the White Star Line’s express service for which she was built. Instead, His Majesty’s Hospital Ship Britannic became vital to the thousands of injured and sick troops who needed transporting back to Britain from the Mediterranean theatre of war. However, her life was cut short when she was suddenly wracked by a mysterious explosion on 21 November 1916 and sank in less than an hour – three times faster than her sister ship Titanic – and yet, thanks to the improvements in safety heralded by the tragedy of her sister, 1,032 of 1,062 on board survived.In this updated and expanded edition of The Unseen Britannic, Simon Mills incorporates previously unseen material to tell a tale of heroism in the First World War and a remarkable ship, which is finally beginning to emerge from the shadow of the Titanic.

Concorde – named for the English and French word for ‘unity’ – was like no other aircraft. It is perhaps the most iconic airliner of all time, its name a byword for speed, comfort and extravagance. It captured the public’s imagination and hearts, instilling them with a fervent passion. Concorde: An Icon in the News is a look at both the plane and its people. Using photos from Mirrorpix, one of the world’s largest picture libraries, it tracks the airliner from the Anglo-French drawing board to the final flight, through the eyes of the people who loved it most.

The remains of the world’s most famous passenger liner, RMS Titanic, were discovered off the coast of Newfoundland in 1985, seventy-three years after it sank. Since then there have been numerous deep-water expeditions to the wreck site, yet little has ever been revealed about the details of these operations.Now, in this fully updated book, Eugene Nesmeyanov recounts all the major Titanic expeditions from 1985 to 2021, taking us on a journey alongside the scientists, cinematographers and other specialists who have visited the legendary wreck 2½ miles below the surface of the North Atlantic. A thorough analysis of the sophisticated technical equipment used is presented, along with historical, biological and other scientific findings, and rare material from official archives and private collections.

A chance remark on the stairs at Peter Morris Music in London’s Denmark Street, in October 1963, set off a chain reaction that helped Brian Epstein apply some much-needed leverage on America’s Hollywood-based Capitol label.Although February 1963 marked the Beatles’ breakthrough in Britain, by the closing months of that year they still had not conquered the United States. Their manager Brian Epstein had been fighting what seemed like a losing battle to persuade Capitol to release the band’s records in America. Indeed, when the Beatles eventually hit the big time in the United States in February 1964, both Epstein and Capitol executives obscured the truth behind it.What is the story behind this essential step in the Beatles’ meteoric rise to worldwide fame? In Capitol Gains, historian Andrew Cook uses corporate and personal archives to reveal the reality behind this and much more, lifting the lid on Capitol’s unfavourable view of the British record industry and how they set out to remix UK master tapes and create distinct US albums. It shows how, while Capitol’s strategy made the Beatles rich beyond their wildest dreams, Epstein often struggled to balance Capitol’s commercial decisions against the Beatles’ own demands, and explores the efforts made to protect the Beatles’ image as they were caught up in the whirlwind of global success.

'Delighted to learn from this very enjoyable new book that the first ever game of football played in Austria was won by the Vienna Cricket Club.' - Tom Holland, Historian and BroadcasterHave we matched Wembley 1966 and 2022, or lost again on penalties? As a football fan in the Home Nations, there is at least one thing of which you can be sure. Even if sometimes other countries play it better than us, they’ll forever have to thank Britain for the fun, the excitement, the tragedy, the triumph, the pain, the pleasure and the sheer gloriousness of the best sport in the world.From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, it was Britain that first spread the beautiful game across the world. Cornish miners took football skills along with their pasties to Mexico; Iraqi football legend Ammo Baba learnt the game at an RAF base; the Buenos Aires Cricket Club gave the world Argentine football; and Romanian dentist Iuliu Weiner got not one an English education but a passion for football too.This is a book about football, yes, but it is also a book about all the countries of the world, about shared passion and shared humanity. It’s How Britain Brought Football to the World.

The garden is an oasis, a pocket of nature in our busy modern lives, full of plants, animals, insects – and a fair bit of magic.Folk Tales from the Garden follows the seasons through a year of stories, garden lore and legends. Explore the changing face of nature just outside your front door, from the tale of the Creator painting her birds and the merits of kissing an old toad, to pixies sleeping in the tulips, and an unusually large turnip.

The Allied landings in France on 6 June 1944 were a turning point in world history. This book is a compilation of 200 images relating to all aspects of D-Day and the Normandy landings, beginning with the years of planning and preparations, all conducted in great secrecy. Next the focus is on the naval and air force operations, the airborne landings, and the British, American and Canadian forces who came ashore on 6 June. The book also covers the months of hard fighting during the Battle of Normandy, and through to the end of the war. Using the extensive archives of the Portsmouth D-Day Museum, this is a moving and unique record of a momentous time.

In a decade of researching and writing about crime, Simon Farquhar has met many of those professionally or personally affected by it. They all carry with them stories that the rest of the world has forgotten, but which to them remain unforgettable.In A Deafening Silence, five of these stories are told, in full, for the first time. Retracing these historic tragedies with a modern eye, talking to surviving witnesses and police officers, exploring Home Office files and even previously unseen evidence, each investigation reveals powerful truths about those who take away a human life and those bereaved by their actions, while shining a new light on how our society has changed – or still needs to change.Time is also taken to explore the untold stories of what happens after sentence is passed, after the press packs up and leaves, once the rest of the world has moved on. What becomes of the survivors, and what becomes of the criminals? What traces of these crimes still remain today?Exhaustively researched and sensitively written, these remarkable accounts are both harrowing and heartbreaking, presenting us with humanity at its cruellest, at its most vulnerable, at its most compassionate and at its most courageous.

The Icelandic sagas, composed between the twelfth and the nineteenth centuries, are one of the world's great literary treasures. After an extended and lively introduction to the genre, Ralph O'Connor provides new translations for five of the greatest of these sagas. We encounter a humble Icelandic scholar dreaming of a Viking past, a royal adventurer evading the horrible lusts of troll-women, a demon popping out of a lavatory, the death spasms of the old Northern gods and unnatural acts in Muslim Germany. The sagas are evocatively illustrated by Anne O'Connor.

The New Forest is an old, old forest. The stories, like the forest which defines them, are at once fresh and blossoming with each telling, but ever rooted in the deep, dark soil of our history and our heritage. From King Arthur and Robin Hood, to Rufus the Red and Bevis of Hampton, award-winning storyteller Brice Stratford guides you through the folk heritage and mythological past of Britain's most haunted national park, taking in five headed dragons, giant ettins, and shape-shifting pixies along the way.

At 3 p.m. on 8 May 1945, Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a long-awaited speech in which he officially declared the war in Europe to be over. After six bitter years of conflict, however, perceptions of how victory over Nazism was to be celebrated and what post-war Britain should look like were very different from the visions of the people and the politicians in 1939.Illustrated with photographs, adverts, posters and cartoons, The Day Peace Broke Out describes the VE-Day celebrations in Britain and across the world through the memories of those who were there, combined with contemporary newspaper and magazine articles. Mike Brown, an authority on the British Home Front of the Second World War, charts the nation’s progressive change of heart from defeatism to growing confidence of certain victory. He looks at the immediate post-VE-Day period and the celebration of victory over Japan in August 1945.What should have been a story with a happy ending concludes with the harsh realisation of post-war austerity and the increasing disillusionment that led many Britons to conclude that they had won the war but lost the peace.

Humorous tales, cautionary tales, tall tales, fairy tales, heroic tales – the depths of Swedish folklore hold all of the above and more besides.From cunning folk and helpful Tomtar, to sinister Näcken and the Stallos of Sami legend (and with plenty of romance and derring-do in-between), this book covers centuries' worth of Sweden’s folk tales, telling stories that have never been translated into English as well as several oral tales published in writing for the first time.

The City of Light has long provided an allure for an artist’s keen eye, but within these pages Paris’s boutique stores, cosy cafes, old-world book shops, breathtaking landmarks and more are all waiting to be brought to life with your creativity.Discover tranquil pockets of beauty in the world’s most romantic city and take your imagination on a journey along its prettiest passages. Featuring intricate hand-drawn line illustrations and handy palette guides, this is the perfect book to help you unwind and colour the calm into your day.

Buddhist Folk Tales is a wonderful collection of ancient and modern stories from the Buddhist tradition. From short, snappy tales to longer narratives, they will entertain and tantalise the emotions. Laugh, sigh and cry at stories about previous lives, why the Monkey King wanted to be Master of the Universe, the grimace that comes with the phrase ‘out of the mouths of babes’, and ever-endearing mother love.This is a book to treasure, and read time and again.

Hidden away in the hustle and bustle of London are a surprising number of pockets of calm – quiet mews, flower-strewn houses on tree-lined streets, and magical shops and eateries that can still the mind and ease the stresses of a busy day. This world is brought ever closer in prettycitylondon: The Colouring Book, making it perfect to unwind with for adults and children alike. Allow the stunning, intricate images and helpful descriptions to whisk you away to a world of pastels and peace, and colour the calm back into your day.

An exploration of the history and development of the dirigible airship from its humble beginnings in the late eighteenth century through to its current role as military command posts among other uses.Starting out as an unreliable experimental aircraft whilst aeronauts first began to learn the secrets of aerial navigation, the airship was remodelled in 1900 by Count Zeppelin to become a potent weapon of war. It was then transformed again into a short-lived solution to long-distance passenger air travel. With over 100 technical drawings and contemporary images of dirigible aircraft, Ridley-Kitts presents a comprehensive and fascinating history of the airship.Military, Naval and Civil Airships is a must read for those that wish to delve into the development of the aircraft for the first time and for airship specialists alike.

The islands of Britain and Ireland hold a rich heritage of plant folklore and wisdom, from the magical yew tree to the bad-tempered dandelion. Here are traditional tales about the trees and plants that shape our landscapes and our lives through the seasons. They explore the complex relationship between people and plants, in lowlands and uplands, fields, bogs, moors, woodlands and towns. Suitable for all ages, this is an essential collection of stories for anyone interested in botany, the environment and our living heritage.

Operation ‘Berlin’, the Soviet offensive launched on 16 April 1945 by Marshals Zhukov and Koniev, isolated the German 9th Army and tens of thousands of refugees in the Spreewald ‘pocket’, south-east of Berlin. Stalin ordered its encirclement and destruction, and his subordinates, eager to win the race to the Reichstag, pushed General Busse’s 9th Army into a tiny area east of the village of Halbe.To escape the Spreewald pocket, the remnants of 9th Army had to pass through Halbe, where barricades constructed by both sides formed formidable obstacles and the converging Soviet forces subjected the area to heavy artillery fire. By the time 9th Army eventually escaped the Soviet pincers, it had suffered 40,000 killed and 60,000 taken prisoner.In Slaughter at Halbe, teenaged refugees recount their experiences alongside Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS veterans attempting to maintain military discipline amid the chaos and carnage of headlong retreat.Relating the story day by day, Tony Le Tissier shows the impact of total war upon soldier and civilian alike.

The Great Fire of London was the greatest catastrophe of its kind in Western Europe. Although detailed fire precautions and fire-fighting arrangements were in place, the fire raged for four days and destroyed 13,200 houses, 87 churches and 44 of the City of London's great livery halls. The 'great fire' of 1666 closely followed by the 'great plague' of 1665; as the antiquary Anthony Wood wrote left London 'much impoverished, discontented, afflicted, cast downe'. In this comprehensive account, Stephen Porter examines the background to 1666, events leading up to and during the fire, the proposals to rebuild the city and the progress of the five-year programme which followed. He places the fire firmly in context, revealing not only its destructive impact on London but also its implications for town planning, building styles and fire precautions both in the capital and provincial towns.

In 1939, Britain was preparing for war. As well as building aeroplanes and digging Anderson shelters, this meant managing food supplies for the home front.The Ministry of Food rose to the challenge, introducing rationing, encouraging the nation to dig for victory, and issuing cookbooks and health advice.Drawing inspiration from Britain’s ‘finest hour’, when the thrifty British housewife had to grow her own veg, stretch the butter ration and still keep her family fighting fit, this is both a social history of wartime dining and a collection of over sixty delicious and healthy seasonal recipes with a vintage twist.